Abstract
It is true that just war thought has an influential presence in international politics. Whether in international law or the emerging norms of the Responsibility to Protect, various fundamental and derived just war criteria often serve to measure or restrain state behavior. It is also true that, before and after just war thought was incorporated into current international law, much systematic thought and analysis was contributed by religious thinkers, notably from Christian traditions. However, just war thought has limitations: It is meant to grapple with the initiation and conduct of war, so much of international politics falls under its framework incompletely. Moreover, just war thought itself is a limited, special case of a broader outlook. In that broader outlook, however, one finds a plausible connection between international politics and peer-to-peer fraternal correction: The criteria which describe fraternal correction can be used to illuminate diplomacy because these criteria highlight the strategic and interactive aspects of international politics. While moving beyond just war thought, the fraternal correction framework fits with the philosophies of ethics, government, and human nature which underlie just war thought, and so the fraternal correction framework is a legitimate and relevant. Also, like just war thought, fraternal correction has been explored systematically by thinkers from Christian traditions. This paper leverages part of the relevant Christian religious cultural heritage in question, applies its fundamental principles to interstate relations, offers historical exemplifications of these principles in practice, and connects these principles to general and specific policy questions for contemporary state leaders.
Presenters
Brian MuzasAssistant Professor and Director, the Center for United Nations and Global Governance Studies, School of Diplomacy and International Relations, Seton Hall University, New Jersey, United States
Details
Presentation Type
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session
Theme
KEYWORDS
Just War, International Relations, Negotiation, Conflict Resolution, Fraternal Correction
