The Iraq War A Philosophical Analysis [Paperback]

This book features a critique of key philosophical doctrines that dominate the Iraq war debate: just war theory, humanitarian intervention, democratic realism, and preventive war doctrine. The author evaluates each and develops a philosophical approach that offers a model for thinking through the philosophical dilemmas introduced by new wars.The Question of Just War The Question of Humanitarian Intervention The Question of Democracy The Question of Preventive War Philosophizing War Concluding Remarks: Toward An Alternative Turn in Philosophizing War

This is a splendid book. Well-written and carefully argued, it not only gives a devastating critique of the Iraq War and shows the inadequacy of just war theory, it also maps the way to a fresh perspective from which to assess the 'new' wars of the twenty-first century. Bassam Romaya has made a major contribution to the philosophy of war. The Iraq War: A Philosophical Analysis deserves a wide audience among non-philosophers as well as philosophers. - Robert L. Holmes, professor emeritus, University of Rochester Bassam Romaya persuasively argues that contemporary warfare is disorderly, asymmetric, imagistic, theatrical, and ultimately unjust. His detailed analysis of the Iraq War supports his claim that the political and technological complexity of contemporary warfare creates a significant challenge for traditional just war theory. This book is an important reminder of the difficulty of thinking about the morality of war. - Andrew Fiala, professor of Philosophy, California State University, Fresno

In a careful and thorough critique of Iraq War discourse, Bassam Romaya exposes the predominant efforts to justify the war, arguments based on the just war tradition, humanitarian intervention, democratization, and preventive war, showing each to offer rationalizations at best. Along the way Romaya develops a new approach to philosophize war, one better tuned to the changing nature of contemporaryl³Ž