Just War Theory After Nuclear Weapons

For those of us with a bit of seniority, looking back on the immediate aftermath of the Cold War, George H. W. Bush’s promise of a “global spring” and Francis Fukuyama’s prediction of the “end of history” now seem remarkably optimistic, if not naïve. Depending on how one counts, more than one hundred armed conflicts are taking place around the world today, at least eight of which qualify as major wars involving large-scale combatant and civilian casualties. According to the Uppsala Conflict Data Program, armed conflict claimed approximately five million lives between 1989 and the end of 2025. Even that sobering estimate may be conservative. Depressingly, as the old song reminds us, the beat goes on.