Justice in Asymmetric Wars: A Contractarian Analysis

Yitzhak Benbaji

doi:10.1515/1938-2545.1072

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Justice in Asymmetric Wars: A Contractarian Analysis

Yitzhak Benbaji

Published/Copyright: January 17, 2013

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From the journal The Law & Ethics of Human Rights Volume 6 Issue 2

Abstract

This Article aims to extend contractarianism in just war theory to the case of asymmetric war of independence. Its main thesis is that within asymmetric wars, the traditional rule of noncombatant immunity has no contractarian justification: It systematically discriminates against the weak part to the conflict, and thus it is unfair. On the other hand, a rule that allows those who take themselves to be freedom fighters to threaten civic life, yet prohibits deliberately targeting individuals, is fair and mutually beneficial. The branch of the war convention I called “justice in asymmetric war” instructs militants to treat civilians as if they bear no personal responsibility for the evil that their society causes.

Keywords: Rights and reciprocity; contractarianism; just war theory; asymmetric wars

Associate Professor, Tel-Aviv University Faculty of Law. I would like to thank Aslï Bali, Corey Brettschneider, Michael Brin, Owen Fiss, Matthew Goldin, Paul Kahn, Saad Ibrahim, Seth Lazar, Naz Modirzadeh, Eric Posner, Tommie Shelby and especially Amichai Cohen for helpful comments

Published Online: 2013-01-17

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Articles in the same Issue

https://doi.org/10.1515/1938-2545.1072

Keywords for this article

Rights and reciprocity; contractarianism; just war theory; asymmetric wars