A ‘Just’ War

The Falklands war fulfilled the conditions of a Just War.  These were originally articulated by St Thomas Aquinas a thousand years ago, and further developed thereafter.

• The war must have a just cause - e.g., against invasion, or for self-defence - and not to acquire wealth or power.
• The war must be declared and controlled by a proper authority, e.g., the state or ruler.
• The war must be fought to promote good or avoid evil, with the aim of restoring peace and justice after the war is over.

Further conditions developed later

• The war must be a last resort when all peaceful solutions have been tried and failed, e.g. negotiation (the peace negotiations had stalled and were not progressing).
• The war should be fought with 'proportionality', with just enough force to achieve victory and only against legitimate targets, i.e., civilians should be protected.
• The good which is achieved by the war must be greater than the evil which led to the war.