War and the Mythological Imagination

Autori

  • Veena Das Johns Hopkins University

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.14672/ada2013196%25p

Abstract

There is an interesting ambiguity that marks any discussion on war in much of modern political theory. While it is acknowledged that war entails enormous human suffering, considerable latitude is conceded for moral judgements about the right to wage war, on the grounds that the suffering imposed upon self and others due to war, is an unfortunate necessity for the future good of a national community. The legality (as distinct from the legitimacy) of modern wars is directly tied to the notion of contractual violence, such that state entities are granted the right to declare war and to conduct it within the constraints (in theory if not in practice) of agreed covenants that place restrictions on what is justifiable violence in war and against whom it may be directed.

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Pubblicato

2013-10-31

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Articoli