Skip to main content Accessibility help
×
Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-ndw9j Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-05T13:12:00.522Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

4 - The case for preventive war

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  05 April 2013

Deen K. Chatterjee
Affiliation:
University of Utah
Get access

Summary

A sovereign attacks a Nation, either to obtain something to which he lays claim or to punish the Nation for an injury he has received from it or to forestall an injury which it is about to inflict upon him, and avert a danger which seems to threaten him . . .. Must we await the danger? Must we let the storm gather strength when it might be scattered at its rising? Must we suffer a neighboring State to grow in power and await quietly until it is ready to enslave us? . . . Supposing . . . that no injury has been received from that State, we must have reason to think ourselves threatened with one before we may legitimately take up arms. Now, power alone does not constitute a threat of injury; the will to injure must accompany the power . . . But the two are not necessarily inseparable; . . . As soon as a State has given evidence of injustice, greed, pride, ambition, or a desire of domineering over its neighbors, it becomes an object of suspicion which they must guard against . . . and, if I may borrow a geometrical expression, one is justified in forestalling a danger in direct ratio to the degree of probability attending it, and to the seriousness of the evil with which one is threatened.

Emer de Vattel (c. 1758), The Law of Nations
Type
Chapter
Information
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2013

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Walzer, Michael, Just and Unjust Wars (New York: Basic Books, 1977)Google Scholar
Gray, Christine, International Law and the Use of Force (New York: Oxford University Press, 2000)Google Scholar
Cusimano Love, Maryann, “Global Problems: Global Solutions,” in Love, , ed., Beyond Sovereignty (2nd edn., Belmont, CA: Wadsworth, 2003), 1–42Google Scholar

Save book to Kindle

To save this book to your Kindle, first ensure [email protected] is added to your Approved Personal Document E-mail List under your Personal Document Settings on the Manage Your Content and Devices page of your Amazon account. Then enter the ‘name’ part of your Kindle email address below. Find out more about saving to your Kindle.

Note you can select to save to either the @free.kindle.com or @kindle.com variations. ‘@free.kindle.com’ emails are free but can only be saved to your device when it is connected to wi-fi. ‘@kindle.com’ emails can be delivered even when you are not connected to wi-fi, but note that service fees apply.

Find out more about the Kindle Personal Document Service.

Available formats
×

Save book to Dropbox

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Dropbox.

Available formats
×

Save book to Google Drive

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

Available formats
×