Space, Scale and Just War: meeting the challenge of humanitarian intervention and transnational terrorism

Williams, John

Abstract

This article contributes to current debates about Just War by analysing an insufficiently recognised problem with the way Just War theorists have responded to the two principal challenges surrounding the ethics of violence in international relations since the end of the Cold War – humanitarian intervention and the ‘global war on terror’. The problem focuses on strongly embedded assumptions that exist in contemporary Just War debates about the nature and meaning of territory. The article argues that Just War needs to engage more systematically with challenges to dominant ‘Westphalian’ framings of territory, space and scale in order to contribute more effectively to important ethical debates about the use of violence in international relations.

Citation

Williams, J. (2008). Space, Scale and Just War: meeting the challenge of humanitarian intervention and transnational terrorism. Review of International Studies, 34(4), 581-600. https://doi.org/10.1017/s0260210508008188

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Publication Date: Oct 1, 2008
• Deposit Date: Jan 22, 2013
• Publicly Available Date: Jan 22, 2013
• Journal: Review of International Studies
• Print ISSN: 0260-2105
• Electronic ISSN: 1469-9044
• Publisher: Cambridge University Press
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 34
• Issue: 4
• Pages: 581-600
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/s0260210508008188
• Public URL: https://durham-repository.worktribe.com/output/1555657