Summaries / Resúmenes - Studia Moralia

324 BRIAN V. JOHNSTONEpositive means to peace. However, when violence is begun byanother, and threatens to destroy the necessary conditions forpeace, that is, the lives of people, the institutions of their community,the order of justice, etc. then disarming violence maylicitly be used. Such use must, of course, be subject to moralrules, in particular those of the just war doctrine. Disarming violence,used in defence, can destroy the agencies of aggressiveviolence: it simply cannot construct the positive conditions ofpeace. If this needed proof, this seems to have been supplied bythe experience in Iraq. It is worth noting the implication of thisposition: war cannot be conceived of as the continuation of politicsby other means. In the Pope’s view war is always a defeat.The State’s Right to DefenseIn this context, we can establish the ethical basis of theobligation of a state to defend itself and others, from attack.Nations are required as the agents by which the conditions ofpeace, international order and justice are to be protected. A statemay not, therefore, allow itself to be eliminated (unless resistanceis futile). Similarly, other states, or communities, providethe conditions for peace within their borders, and may also serveas agents supporting international peace. Therefore, a state, ororganization of states, has a moral duty, flowing from the imperativeof peace, to defend these others when they are unjustlyattacked. The preservation of states, in present historical circumstances,is one way of limiting the damaging effects of war,in a particular situation, so as to limit the extent to which thewhole overall project for peace might be undermined. 34 But, torepeat, in this rationale, the wars of nations do not become thepositive means of realizing the project of peace. 35 The theory or34At this point, I have added a qualification to Joblin’s argument, soas to stress point that war is accepted only in its function of limiting violence,which would otherwise be even more destructive. Cf. JOBLIN, L’église,283.35War cannot be an appropriate means for obtaining justice for the violationof rights. Pope JOHN XXIII, Pacem in Terris, #127; JOBLIN, L’église, 279.