A Transformative Application of Augustine’s Just War Theory to the War on Terrorism

David Snyder, Rice University

This paper will make use of an adapted version of Augustine’s Just War Theory in order to clarify the aims and transform the methodology of the War on Terrorism. In the course of a brief reconstructive explication of the fundamental strands of Augustine’s theory, I will adapt the parts in such a way as to make them appropriate to and effective in a democratic and pluralistic political outlook. The ultimate thesis of the paper is that this revised version of Just War Theory allows us to understand what we mean by peace, and therefore by justified war, by placing peace within the discursive place of democracy, freedom, and human rights rather than merely identifying it as the lack of armed conflict. The War on Terror can have moral legitimacy only if it seeks to maximize this kind of peace, if it is founded on opening up a space for freedom accessible to all, and if it is processed through both a national and international institution of democracy with open communication and minimal passion/revenge. As it stands, the War on Terror, when seen through the lens of Augustine’s philosophy, not only lacks ethical integrity but also threatens to be completely ineffective: as the rash and passionate United States reaction to September 11 further enrages those with militant tendencies towards our interests and lives.