ETHICAL ISSUES IN WAR AND PEACE (CE-4007)

This course will explore many of the ethical questions that arise in a Christian assessment of armed conflict and peacemaking. It will explore the historical development of Christian reflection on war and peace, pacifism and just war, strategies for peacebuilding and reconciliation. It will assess the shifts made from a deontological approach to the theory of war and peace to ideas of peacebuilding, reconciliation, and non-violent peacemaking, including a virtue-based just peace ethic. Drawing on Catholic social ethics on peacebuilding, it will explore the classical theological thinking of war and peace, the challenges, moral dilemmas, and ambiguities non-resolved by just war thinkers. The course will also consider the challenges posed by other forms of contemporary warfare issues and worldwide violent conflict cases, such as terrorism, mass atrocities, lethal drones, nuclear weapons, rape as weapon of war, cross-border conflicts, genocide, etc.