Just War and Pacifism: Chinese and Christian Perspectives in Dialogue (review)

The wars of the twentieth century and, thus far, of the twenty-first have been "total wars," exhausting huge amounts of resources, killing more civilians than soldiers, and devastating the environment. The question of how to replace violent with nonviolent means of conflict resolution has now become extremely urgent. In Just War and Pacifism, Edmund Ryden, a Jesuit scholar at the Fujen University in Taiwan and author of Philosophy of Peace in Han China (Taipei: Taipei Ricci Institute, 1998), takes yet another look at this question. Exploring the issue from philosophical and cross-cultural perspectives, Ryden adds an ethical dimension to the debate about war and peace by challenging the dehumanization of the "enemy" in contemporary political rhetoric (p. 13). He consults a wide range of disciplines on nonviolent means of conflict resolution including history, philosophy, political science, and theology. In many ways, this book presents a thorough critique of the subject within a dialectical framework of just war, pacifism, and nonviolence, and calls for greater commitment to avoid using war as an instrument of international policy (pp. 14-15).

While the preface lays out the book's objectives and methodology, part 1, "Just War," traces the historical development of the "Just War" theory and discusses its conceptual relevance to the contemporary world. There are at least two ways of looking at the "Just War" theory: the pursuit of justice and the avoidance of war.

At the center of the debate is the question of how the theory should be used to justify the use of force in domestic and international politics. Chapter 1, "Just War: A Western Perspective," presents a critical review of the "Just War" theory in Europe by examining the writings of Saint Augustine, Thomas Aquinas, Alexander of Hales, Vitoria, Suarez, Gonzalez, Gentili, and Grotius. Underlying their writings is the idea that God would approve the use of war to pursue peace and justice. When warfare is perceived as a choice between a greater and a lesser evil, these Catholic thinkers are willing to accept the use of war as a defense against the greater evil. In the West, the "Just War" theory is more than a philosophical idea. It is also an official doctrine in the canon law of the Roman Catholic Church that, as such, can only be declared active by the Pope. The last time this doctrine was used by the Pope was in late July 1995, when John Paul II called for "defensive and proportionate" intervention in Bosnia in "a just war" to defend the civilian population.¹ The Pope's remark amounted to sanctioning the actions of the Croatian army prior to the U.S.-supported Croatian military action against the Serbs in Krajina in early August 1995, widely known as "Operation Storm."² All contemporary wars are framed as a struggle between good and evil. The concept of the "Cold War" was based on the same formula, and right-wing politicians and intellectuals in the West are reluctant to abandon this formula. The current U.S. military campaign in Iraq is justified on the basis of the evil of Saddam Hussein's regime.

Chapter 2, "Just War: A Chinese Perspective," explores the notion of yi zhan (just war) in ancient Chinese philosophy. There seem to be considerable parallels between early Chinese and Western philosophical texts on the nature of war, an insight that, in an imperfect world, war can be used as a self-defense against aggression. Of all the Chinese philosophical texts, Ryden focuses on the Huainanzi: On Military Strategy because this text is more restrictive about the use of force in a wartime situation. According to the Huainanzi, the sole purpose of an army is humanitarian intervention, and the army must be disbanded after the end of a military campaign. This corresponds to Machiavelli's view that an army should be prevented from establishing itself...