Elizabeth+L.+-+Just+War

Home Small Wars Project Just Wars Essays

Comparison Essay: How Just Were the U.S.’s Small Wars?

The Just War Theory has two parts. Study the Just War handout and select the two most significant criteria for **//jus ad bellum//** and two most significant criteria for **//jus in bello//**. With these criteria in mind, select one war from each of your three tables that best meets these criteria. In the essay, you will analyze, compare and rank these three wars.

Write an essay that compares the three small wars and analyzes how well all three meet the four criteria that you believe are most important. Based on this comparison, select the __"most just"__ of the three wars and explain the reasons for the choice. Also, explain why your __second choice__ fell short and were not as just as your __first choice__ but is more just than your __third choice__.

RUBRIC: A quality essay will Explain why you selected **jus ad bellum** and **jus in bello** the criteria, Use the __four__ criteria to analyze why the three small wars are "just wars", Support your analysis of each war with evidence from the Small Wars Wiki, Rank the three small wars and explain why one war is more just than the other two, Explain why the __second__ choice fell short compared to the __first__ choice but is more just than the __third__ choice, Organize you writing in extended power paragraphs, Identify the source and establish its credibility with an appositive phrase, Cite evidence __internally__ and in a Works Cited.

These three wars I am going to be specializing in are, Haiti of 1915-1934, the Korean war of 1950-1953, and the Occupation of Japan of 1945. For Haiti the Jus ad bellum criteria that was classified directly with this war is just cause and right intention. In the Korean War the Jus ad bellum reason would be legitimate authority and right intention. In the Occupation of Japan would be just cause and legitimate authority. For the Jus in bello criteria for Haiti would be military necessity and Distinction. In the Korean War the Jus in bello criteria would be Proportionality and Distinction. In the Occupation of Japan the Jus in bellum criteria would be military necessity and Proportionality.

In the Jus ad Bellum arguments for Haiti I chose just cause and right intention. These characteristics fit Haiti because just cause is “the reason for going to war needs to be just and cannot therefore be solely for recapturing things taken or punishing people who have done wrong”(Stanford University). In Haiti we were trying to make them more civilized and they society started protesting and that they wanted us out of their country. This resulted in the United States killing many civilians (Pike-Occupation of Haiti). Haiti also classifies as right intention because the United States had the idea of going in and helping Haiti’s economy out but they didn’t allow it so they used force to push us out (boot). In the Korean War the characteristics that applied to this were legitimate authority because “only duly constituted public authorities may wage war” (Stanford University). The Korean War demonstrated this because the United States was at war with the Soviet Union and they were planning an attack on Korea, while Korea is at their weakest point and we stepped in to help so the Soviet Union didn’t conquer more land. They also demonstrate right intention because we had the right or the need to step I so that it would benefit our country as well as Korea at the time, so that we didn’t let the Soviet Union have more territory. In the Occupation of Japan the characteristics that applied to this were just cause because the United States wanted to get involved because we didn’t agree with the Japanese ways and they had done unforgivable crimes and we had to put them in place. Also we wanted to make sure the Soviet Union did not bring communism into that territory. Another Characteristic for the Occupation of Japan is legitimate authority because we had the right to do so because we didn’t want to let communism take over and if we let the Soviet Union gain that territory they would be a stronger country over all which would make it easier to have a victory in the Cold War.

For the Occupation of Japan there is two specific criteria’s for the Jus in Bello categories there is proportionality because the United States didn’t want the Soviet Union to take control over Japan and bring communism to that country. This is proportionality because not a lot of civilians were killed the United States just wanted to prove a point that the Japanese did some unforgivable things and they needed to be punished. Also it is Military necessity because there was a reason for minimum force by the United States because all they needed to do was put Japan in its place and move out the Soviet Union so they didn’t spread communism to more countries and become more powerful because we were at war with them at the time. For Haiti the criteria for the jus in bello was Military necessity because there was little force put on Haiti because they were already a failed state and there economy was crashed which made it easier for the United States to take control. Also distinction was another criteria because this didn’t involve any acts of bombing or terrorism and reprisal against civilians. This involved the United States because we knew that Haiti has a violent past but we wanted to make sure we were prepared for anything. For the Korean War the criteria that fit this is proportionality because we didn’t have to much of an effect on the civilians just making sure that since the cold war just started with the Soviet Union that they didn’t try to conquer Korea at their weakest point and end up gaining power to defeat the United States. Another characteristic would be Military necessity because we didn’t have to put much effort in because it was to conjoining states to help get rid of the Soviet union even though we were already having conflicts with Korea we didn’t want to get defeated trying to defeat Korea while the Soviet Union was trying to defeat us.

Engdahl, Willam. //The Fateful Geological Prize Called Haiti//. 4 Feb. 2011. //Flux//

//Guru//. N.p., n.d. Web. 20 Nov. 2011.

Barbour, Scott. //The History of Nations: Japan//. N.p.: n.p., n.d. N. pag. Print. Excerpt from Foreword. //A History of Modern Japan//. By Richard Storry. Baltimore: n.p., 1960.

"Chinese-Soviet Relations." //CQ Press Electronic Library//. Web. 18 Nov. 2011. <[].

RUBRIC: A quality essay will

Explain why you selected the two jus ad bellum and the two jus in bello the criteria, criteria identified and defined

Use the __four__ criteria to analyze why the three small wars are "just wars", attempts to use criteria to analyze the wars

Support your analysis of each war with evidence from the Small Wars Wiki, evidence used to support claims in one paragraph

Rank the three small wars and explain why one war is more just than the other two, no attempt to rank wars

Explain why the __second__ choice fell short compared to the __first__ choice but is more just than the __third__ choice, <span style="color: #ff000c; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 12pt;">comparison not made

Organize you writing in extended power paragraphs, not all paragraphs are organized this way

Identify the source and establish its credibility with an appositive phrase, not done for all 3 wars

Cite evidence __internally__ and in a Works Cited. internal citation not done in two paragraphs, these have formatting errors; WC does not credit wikis, some formatting errors

Please write with an academic voice, not in the first person.