Ending Wars Justly: Theory and Applications

This volume features original essays on the ethics of ending wars (jus ex bello). It fills a significant gap in just war theory and sets the stage for other thinkers to engage with the topic.

What makes questions about jus ex bello especially difficult for ethicists to answer is that the just war tradition has neglected to develop principles for ending wars justly. Until recently, debates have primarily focused on justice in going to war (jus ad bellum), justice in fighting a war (jus in bello), and justice after war (jus post bellum). Additionally, many contemporary conflicts are unconventional and not the kind that the traditional principles of just war theory are designed to address. The chapters in this volume address the question of how and when wars can end justly. Part 1 approaches jus ex bello from different theoretical angles, including just war theory, virtue ethics, pacifism, and feminism. Part 2 discusses specific aspects of recent wars: the United States' withdrawal from Afghanistan after 20 years of military involvement in the country, and the war that began with the Russian invasion of Ukraine in 2022, that is so difficult to end despite the escalating human cost.

Ending Wars Justly is an essential resource for scholars and advanced students working in just war theory, the ethics of war and peace, international relations, and military and strategic studies.

David K. Chan is Professor of Philosophy at the University of Alabama at Birmingham. He is the author of Beyond Just War: A Virtue Ethics Approach (2012), and Action Reconceptualized: Human Agency and Its Sources (2016), and the editor of Moral Psychology Today: Essays on Values, Rational Choice, and the Will (2008).