Soft WarMichael L. Gross, Tamar Meisels Just war theory focuses primarily on bodily harm, such as killing, maiming, and torture, while other harms are often largely overlooked. At the same time, contemporary international conflicts increasingly involve the use of unarmed tactics, employing 'softer' alternatives or supplements to kinetic power that have not been sufficiently addressed by the ethics of war or international law. Soft war tactics include cyber-warfare and economic sanctions, media warfare, and propaganda, as well as non-violent resistance as it plays out in civil disobedience, boycotts, and 'lawfare.' While the just war tradition has much to say about 'hard' war - bullets, bombs, and bayonets - it is virtually silent on the subject of 'soft' war. Soft War: The Ethics of Unarmed Conflict illuminates this neglected aspect of international conflict. |
Contents
definitions and meta views | 16 |
Civilian Immunity | 33 |
economic warfare | 49 |
Conditional Sale | 63 |
cyber warfare media warfare and lawfare | 77 |
nonviolence | 134 |
How Subversive Are Human Rights? Civil Subversion | 152 |
On the Paradox of Nonviolent Action | 166 |
hostage taking and prisoners | 184 |
Kidnapping and Extortion as Tactics of Soft War | 200 |
Proportionate SelfDefense in Unarmed Conflict | 217 |
| 233 | |
| 258 | |
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Common terms and phrases
abuse actions adversaries Affluenza African American argue armed conflict atrocity attack bad faith Barrenia belligerents Birmingham capture cause chapter Civil Subversion civilian casualties civilian peacekeeping civilian population claim coercive combatants Conditional Sale cyber warfare cyber-attacks defense definition economic sanctions effective enemy ethics example goals Gross groups guerrillas hacktivism harm hostage taking human rights humanitarian intervention immunity individuals infrastructure insurgents international law involve Iraq ISIS Israel jus ad bellum justified killing kinetic law in bad law of armed lawfare laws of war legal argument legitimacy legitimate LOAC means media coverage media strategy media warfare military peacekeeping moral negotiations noncombatants nonlethal nonviolent Nonviolent Peaceforce nonviolent resistance normative organizations parties peace Peace Brigades International permissible political principle problem propaganda proportionate self-defense protective accompaniment regime resort response risk soft power soldiers state’s status targeted sanctions threat today’s tradition unarmed force unjust violations violence Walzer war’s wartime weapons