Word count: 2000 Due date: friday 11:59pm Needs to be thorough and precise Harvard reference The majoressay will assess your knowledge of ethical approaches to war and peace in international politics....

Is Terrorism Ethically Justified?
Name:
Student ID:
Subject Code:
Terrorism has become one of the major issues disrupting the social and political order of a nation (The 2015 Global Terrorism Index 2015). The terrorism activities involve killing of innocent people and disruption of international peace. These activities are generally a result of political or religious conflicts between the nations. In its own nature, terrorism is harmful for the society. However, scholars suggest that terrorism can be justified provided that it is authorized by the State which makes it legitimate since State has a monopoly on violence. The theories advocate that if the aim of the group is acceptable, violence is morally acceptable. The ethical aspect of terrorist activities has being analysed with respect to ethics theories like Just War, Realism and Pacifism. The aim of the study is to analyse the ethical approaches to war and peace in international politics. The essay discusses the ethical approaches to understand whether terrorism is morally justified. The essay begins with the discussion of ethical theories like Just War, Realism and Pacifism and continues to explain the application of these theories to terrorism with suitable examples. The essay ends with the conclusion that terrorism can be partially justified, on a few grounds, to be ethical.
The political relations among nations are such that it tempts people to believe that there is no relationship between ethics and international relations. Many scholars have studied the relations among nations and found it ethically immoral (Dewey 1923). The international relations are based on force, deception and fraud nowadays. Often, conflicts between national ambitions and moral considerations are witnessed. Taking the moral path is deciding between ‘what ought to be’ and ‘what actually is’. The international relations with an ethical perspective is not the point of discussion, rather discussion of the chaotic and uncertain moral beliefs impacting the international situation is the concern (Mueller 2010).
The ethics of war and peace are studied in context of three traditional thoughts- Just War Theory, Pacifism and Realism. Moreover, the Just War Theory is further divided into three thoughts: jus ad bellum, jus in bello and jus post bellum. Jus ad bellum relates to justice of going to war, jus in bello relates to justice within war and jus post bellum is concerned with justice after the war. Other theories of ethics can also apply to international politics and relations but very few have succeeded to fit into this tradition. These theories of Just War, Realism and Pacifism are ruling in the political context the essay intends to discuss. The difference among these three traditions should be known before understanding the core of the traditions. The Just War theory proposes that states can use armed forces and sometimes, it is morally justified. War is sometimes morally justified, not always. The Just War theory is based on the idea of war being morally just rather than focusing on its prudent and bold nature. It is ethically justified, under the theory of Just War, to use weapons to deal with political violence. World War II is a good example of Just War theory. On the other hand, Realism has a contradictory idea that war is not the solution for conflicts among the nations. It states that it is not morally justified to encourage for national security. According to the realism theory, ethics are not related to warfare where the powerful survives. A country does not follow moral standards but has interest in its power and influence over others. Pacifism is different from the realism’s idea of moral scepticism. As per Pacifism, ethical concepts can be applied to international politics. It states that it is important to understand the whether the cause behind the war is just and in a normative sense, it is better to avoid the war. While the Just War theory favours war by ethically backing it up, pacifists are always against the war as they believe the fights can always be resolved.
The global politics has been dominated by the scenario of non-state terrorism these days....