Contemporary Just War

Tamar Meisels is Professor of Political Theory in the Department of Political Science at Tel Aviv University, Israel. She is author of Territorial Rights (2005), The Trouble with Terror (2008) and co-editor of Soft War: The Ethics of Unarmed Conflict (2017, with Michael L. Gross).

'Tamar Meisels restores social realities to the discussion of just war. This outstanding book presents a provocative, powerful, and eloquent alternative to the reigning apolitical revisionism applicable only to a far better world than this. Socially adrift abstraction here meets a formidably grounded challenger specifying principles that can be action-guiding in the world of violent groups that confronts us now.' -- Henry Shue, University of Oxford, UK‘Tamar Meisels’ Contemporary Just War: Theory and Practice is a superb discussion of the major debates in contemporary just war theory and their bearing on the conflicts of today. Hers is a lucid and humane voice that speaks with precision to today’s major disagreements on the morality of war and also speaks with compassion to the difficult decisions people face in war, seeking to maintain their moral bearings. Those of us who have admired Tamar Meisels’ writings on these topics can now be grateful they have been developed into a single, sustained discussion that everyone concerned with these issues will want to read.’ -- Cheyney Ryan, University of Oxford, UK'With this accessible account of just war theory, Tamar Meisels has done us all a great service in showing us why we should still hold onto the main tenets of Michael Walzer’s traditional view, and why revisionist critiques of that account fail to the degree that they cannot bridge "deep" moral theory with practical moral and legal guidance in war. Here, Meisels walks us through concrete cases to do with civil war, targeted assassinations of nuclear scientists, and pre-emptive strikes. With her feet firmly on the ground and with young soldiers often in mind, she makes it clear that just war theory – traditionalist, revisionist, or a convergence of both – can’t stay in the clouds, but needs to speak directly to the realities of war.' -- Nancy Sherman, Georgetown University, USA

• Preface Introduction Part I: Just War Theory 1. Comrades in Arms: The Equal Innocence of Soldiers 2. In Defense of the Defenseless: The Morality of the Laws of War 3. Fighting for Independence: What Can Just War Theory Part II: Just War Theory in Practice 4. Proportionality and Risk 5. Economic Warfare: the Case of Gaza 6. Preemptive Strikes: Israel and Iran 7. Assassination: Targeting Nuclear Scientists 8. Conclusions