AHUM 25A15 - Ethics of War and Peace

The idea of “thinking about war” has animated human society, Western and non-Western, since their origins. One of the major sources of reflection is intimately linked to the question of the legitimacy of war. More specifically, it looks into knowing if a war is just or not, whether concerning its beginning, the conduct in war or its ending. This course analyzes the doctrine of just war through multiple dimensions (historical, theoretical, practical, critical, etc.). In other terms, it proposes an understanding of the ethics of war through its complexities, starting from the different debates and challenges, both political (terrorism, preventive war, humanitarian interventions, etc.) and technological (cyberwarfare, drones, enhanced soldiers, etc.), which contribute to its evolution.

Pierre BOURGOIS

Cours magistral seul

English

Autumn 2024-2025

- 1 final written exam, four questions related to the course (two hours on session 12) (60% of the final grade). - 1 group work, policy paper on a specific topic chosen by the group (guidelines and topics will be presented by the professor during the first session). All papers must be sent via email before session 7 (40% of the final grade).

Semester roadmap Session 1 – Introduction − What is ethics? Thought experiment − Three ethical paradigms : consequentialism, deontology, ethics of virtue − The ethics of war: criteria and historical roots − Other approaches: Pacifism / Realism / Just war / Cosmopolitan wars Session 2 – Jus ad bellum : Who should wage war and when? − Jus ad bellum: the fundamental criteria − Defining the legitimate authority − Looking for the right intention − Chances of success and the Gamble of war − Declaring or not declaring war, that is the question − Defining legitimate defense − Preventive or preemptive war? − Defining a just cause : Humanitarian intervention and responsibility to protect − Politics of war: the West and the Rest Session 3 – Jus in bello (I) : How wars should be fought − Criteria of Jus in bello − Defining the principle of proportionality − Historical turning points: Second World War and the debate between attrition and strategic bombing − Protecting civilian populations − Environmental protection? Session 4 – Jus in bello (II): The ethics of weapons − Jus in bello: the concept of fighting justly − Illegal, illegitimate and inhumane weapons − The doctrine of double effect − Are weapons utilization restrained by norms or by taboo? − Chemical weapons: from World War I to Syria, the doom or the rise of a norm? − Nuclear weapons: taboo, dissuasion and balance of power − Incendiary weapons – the trajectory of napalm utilization: does ethics impact practices of war? Session 5 – Toward an ethics of violence? − Defining war, defining peace − Ethical principles of the use of force “short of war” − Ethics of Intelligence and Espionage − Ethical principles of the jus ad vim : acting in the grey zones − Hybrid wars: a new type of conflict that requires a new ethics? − What is the difference between terrorism and insurrection? Session 6 – The future of war (I): the Ethics of cyber − Definitions in the cyberworld − History of cyber warfare − Cyber warfare versus traditional warfare − The multiple dimensions of cyber warfare − Rethinking the Ethics of war at the cyber age? − The limits of International Humanitarian Law − Current and future ethical challenges of cyberwarfare Session 7 – The future of war (II): “Killer robots” and Artificial Intelligence − Ethics and new technologies: a gap impossible to bridge? − What is a killer robot? The case of LAWS (Lethal Autonomous Weapon Systems) − Killer robots vs augmented soldiers (transhumanism) − Artificial intelligence in war: toward new practices… − … and toward new ethical principles ? − What does International Humanitarian Law say on the future of war? − Ethics or not ethics for the future of war? Session 8 – Ethics of War in Space − Spatial military capacities − Il and Space: towards lawfare − Taking into account environmental concerns in Ethics of War Session 9 – Jus post bellum: How to end wars? − History of Jus post bellum − Should one save failed States? − Peacekeeping operations versus occupation − Postwar justice and reconstruction − Is there an obligation toward peace? − Iraq versus Syria − Just post bellum and Jus ex bellum Session 10 – Ethics of War in times of Peace: information warfare - Propaganda, public diplomacy, information warfare - Cognition in grey zones - Weaponization of narrative and attrition Session 11 – Assessing the limits and the benefits of Ethics of war - Is the Ethics of War a Western ethics? - The feminist critique of Ethics of War - Exploring other traditions of Ethics : Judaism and Islam - Moral entrepreneurs: Ethics of war as an instrument in the war of narratives - Are there national approaches of Ethics of War? - Q & A on the final exam Session 12 – Final exam