The ethics of peace and war is central to the idea of world ethics. In fact it can be argued to be one of the central ethical issues in international Relations more generally. This book looks at three general theories concerned with the role of ethics in international politics, focusing on the specific problems of war and armed conflict. The author explores the connections between these three theories - cosmopolitanism, reason of state, and just war theory and pacifism - and puts forward the argument for the appropriateness of cosmopolitanism (with its emphasis on the equal worth of all human...

Develops a coherent theory of nonviolent political action in the context of Western political theory. Ian Atack identifies the contribution of nonviolence to political theory through connecting central characteristics of nonviolent action to fundamental debates about the role of power and violence in politics. This in turn provides a platform for going beyond historical and strategic accounts of nonviolence to a deeper understanding of its transformative potential.From Mahatma Gandhi and Martin Luther King to toppled communist regimes in Eastern Europe and pro-democracy movements in Serbia,...