Postmodern Just Wars:
When a human right is wrong

Iraq: In the name of international morality, powerful states can impose their will on weaker states

22 January 2003

The author of The End of Human Rights: Critical Legal Thought at the Fin-de-Siecle (Oxford: Hart, 2000) is to explore the changing relationship between war and morality - both in the context of the 'war on terrorism' and from a historical perspective - in a lecture entitled 'Postmodern Just Wars'.

Professor Costas Douzinas, from Birkbeck's School of Law, says that "under the guise of an international moral code with a weak legal gloss, which we call 'human rights', we have seen the gradual emergence of a new kind of imperialism that I find very worrying".

He continues: "Natural rights and human rights were born as tools through which people could resist domination and oppression by governments. They have now been taken over by powerful governments and are used to legitimise a new world order. The 'human rights' agenda does not address what I feel is the main cause of injustice in the world today - the huge discrepancy in the distribution of income between the rich and poor countries."

"In Iraq, we are clearly moving towards a situation in which a group of powerful states, in the name of international morality, are building a new world order in which, while they are immune from outside inspections or criticisms, they can impose their will on weaker states.

"We can claim that we are acting morally in support of human rights in going to war, but in doing that, we are simply promoting agendas which are not necessarily right and just, and certainly not in the interests of the developing world and the non-powerful states and nations."

Putting the issue into historical context, Professor Douzinas stresses that the concept of a 'just war' - where the question of 'who is right' is posed - has been revived recently. "This idea of a 'just war' was abandoned in the modern era, as it was believed that the main concern should be to regulate the means of war: to make the conduct of war a little more civil. But the return of the 'just war' turns war into a policing operation in which the enemy is seen as a criminal and the normal rules of war are weakened."

He adds: "Throughout modernity, when sovereign states entered into war, there was no moral arbiter, no tribunal could claim that one state was in the right and the other in the wrong," says Professor Douzinas, "and that helped in the regulation and control of its conduct. I feel this is now changing. Since the collapse of Communism we have entered a new phase in our history, where this idea of 'just war' has been re-introduced. Now, certain powerful nations, mainly the United States, whether using the United Nations or not, can choose who to attack in a seemingly legitimate and morally acceptable way."

Event details:

Lecture: Postmodern Just Wars
Speaker: Costas Douzinas, Professor of Law, Birkbeck
Date: Friday 24 January, 6pm
Venue: Clore Management Centre, Birkbeck, Torrington Square, London WC1
Followed by drinks reception to celebrate the launch of Birkbeck Law Press with Cavendish Publishing

Contact:
Catherine Doherty, Media and Publicity Officer
External Relations, Birkbeck, University of London, Malet Street, Bloomsbury, London WC1E 7HX
Tel 020 7631 6569
Fax 020 7631 6351
Email c.doherty@bbk.ac.uk

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