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2 Militarism

Abstract

The common understanding of militarism as 'the application to international relations of fascist assumptions' needs to be resisted. The militarist nature of fascism is indisputable; but militarism, more broadly but still coherently defined, can be seen to embrace much more than the fascist tradition. Militarism is rife in the modern world, where its pervasive and multiform presence constantly threatens the moral regulation of war. Ruthlessness is reinforced by the ethic of hardness that is common to all forms of militarism and that supplants the ethic of compassion that is so essential to the moral conduct of war. Across the religious and ideological divide the ethical power of war, its generation of a new man and a new order, are constantly celebrated. In militarist thinking 'violence' is an elastic concept, and its elasticity lowers the threshold of counterviolence and enlarges the group against which it can be directed.

Abstract

The common understanding of militarism as 'the application to international relations of fascist assumptions' needs to be resisted. The militarist nature of fascism is indisputable; but militarism, more broadly but still coherently defined, can be seen to embrace much more than the fascist tradition. Militarism is rife in the modern world, where its pervasive and multiform presence constantly threatens the moral regulation of war. Ruthlessness is reinforced by the ethic of hardness that is common to all forms of militarism and that supplants the ethic of compassion that is so essential to the moral conduct of war. Across the religious and ideological divide the ethical power of war, its generation of a new man and a new order, are constantly celebrated. In militarist thinking 'violence' is an elastic concept, and its elasticity lowers the threshold of counterviolence and enlarges the group against which it can be directed.

Chapters in this book

  1. Front matter i
  2. Contents v
  3. Preface to the second edition vi
  4. Acknowledgements vii
  5. Introduction to the second edition 1
  6. Introduction to the first edition 20
  7. Part I: Images of war
  8. 1 Realism 35
  9. 2 Militarism 58
  10. 3 Pacifism 95
  11. 4 The just war 115
  12. Part II: Principles and concepts of the just war
  13. 5 Legitimate authority 139
  14. 6 Just cause 162
  15. 7 Proportionality and the recourse to war 183
  16. 8 Last resort 204
  17. 9 Proportionality and the conduct of war 224
  18. 10 Noncombatant immunity 249
  19. 11 Peacemaking 287
  20. Part III: Terrorism and counterterrorism
  21. 12 On defining terrorism 311
  22. 13 Terrorism 327
  23. 14 Counterterrorism 347
  24. References 375
  25. Index 387
The ethics of war
This chapter is in the book The ethics of war
https://doi.org/10.7765/9781784996659.00009

Chapters in this book

  1. Front matter i
  2. Contents v
  3. Preface to the second edition vi
  4. Acknowledgements vii
  5. Introduction to the second edition 1
  6. Introduction to the first edition 20
  7. Part I: Images of war
  8. 1 Realism 35
  9. 2 Militarism 58
  10. 3 Pacifism 95
  11. 4 The just war 115
  12. Part II: Principles and concepts of the just war
  13. 5 Legitimate authority 139
  14. 6 Just cause 162
  15. 7 Proportionality and the recourse to war 183
  16. 8 Last resort 204
  17. 9 Proportionality and the conduct of war 224
  18. 10 Noncombatant immunity 249
  19. 11 Peacemaking 287
  20. Part III: Terrorism and counterterrorism
  21. 12 On defining terrorism 311
  22. 13 Terrorism 327
  23. 14 Counterterrorism 347
  24. References 375
  25. Index 387
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