The nature and importance of the theory just war

Main points

Althought most people agree that wars are bad becasue of their effects, most people also agree that some wars can be justified. The theory used to decide whether a war is justified is known as the just war theory.

Today it is generally agreed that a war is just if:

• The cause of the war is just (foo example, it is fought in self-defence when another country attacks)
• It is being fought by the authority of the UN
• It is being fought with the intention to bring back peace 
• It is begun at last resort-all other ways of ending the conflict have been tried and failed
• There is a reasonable chance of success
• The method used avoids killings civilians
• The methods used are proportional to the cause. For example, it would not be just to destroy a country with wepons of mass destruction becasue it had invaded a small island