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Just War Conditions Essay

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Walzer (1977) defines times of supreme emergency when those conditions he specifies for the conduct of a just war can be set aside.
This essay will define the conditions required for a just war and then explore whether there are times when these conditions can be disregarded. It will then examine Walzer’s concept of such supreme emergency exemptions and what is required for this idea to be convincing. Referring to objections raised by Coady and Pike it will then argue that the ‘supreme emergency’ concept does not meet these requirements.

Just War Conditions
To understand Walzer’s account of supreme emergency exemptions, it is necessary to summarise what he describes as the war convention (Walzer, 1977), the conditions which normally apply …show more content…

Pike argues that ‘some moral constraints become looser in extreme circumstances’ (2014, p.97) i.e. in certain situations it is permissible to carry out actions which would usually be forbidden.
A domestic situation where this arises is in that of the concept of self-defence, which is accepted as a just cause in the JaB conditions and as a defence in domestic law. If Adam attacks Victor, then Victor is entitled to attack Adam sufficiently to ensure he stops (even potentially killing him).
However, it would not be permissible in domestic law for Victor to take Adam’s baby daughter Beth and launch an attack on her to make Adam stop. Beth here is analogous to a non-combatant in war protected by JiB conventions.
So is it ever justified to loosen moral constraints in the area of warfare which would uniquely allow political entities such as states to wage war or carry out acts in contravention of Walzer’s war convention? If Adam and Victor were political entities, not individuals, could Beth ever be a legitimate

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