Lexington Books
Pages: 142
Trim: 6½ x 9½
978-0-7391-1900-6 • Hardback • November 2007 • $113.00 • (£87.00)
978-0-7391-1901-3 • Paperback • August 2009 • $54.99 • (£42.00)
Eric Patterson is assistant director of the Berkley Center for Religion and World Affairs at Georgetown University.
Chapter 1 Preface
Chapter 2 Chapter 1. Old Wars vs. New Wars: The Challenges of the 21st Century
Chapter 3 Chapter 2. The Triumphs and Failings of Just War Thinking
Chapter 4 Chapter 3. Political Responsibility and the Decision to go to War (jus ad bellum)
Chapter 5 Chapter 4. Fighting to Win: The Nexus of Morality and Practicality (jus in bello)
Chapter 6 Chapter 5. Finishing Well: Security and Punishment at War's End (jus post bellum)
Chapter 7 Chapter 6. Public Opinion, Postmodernism, and Supranational Governance: Challenges for New Thinking on Just War
His familiarity with the body of just war literature and his unconventional approach to the question make his contribution worthy of critical engagement. Recommended.
— Choice Reviews
Eric Patterson's small and eminently readable volume can easily serve as a digestible short introduction to the history and major components of the Just War tradition. His approach is especially helpful as a result of his concern with the changing nature of conflict in the contemporary environment.
— Autumn 2008; Parameters
Eric Patterson succeeds in rescuing discussion about the justice of war from stale questions and arcane philosophy and brings analysis square into the most relevant debates of the age—humanitarian intervention, the war on terrorism, and justice after war's end. Ironically, he does so by returning to the very historical foundations of the just war tradition. And he does so with rhetorical force, conceptual clarity, and refreshing directness.
— Daniel Philpott, University of Notre Dame