Privatizing war : a moral theory

Resource Information

The work Privatizing war : a moral theory represents a distinct intellectual or artistic creation found in Massey University Library, University of New Zealand. This resource is a combination of several types including: Work, Language Material, Books.

Label

Privatizing war : a moral theory

Title remainder

a moral theory

Statement of responsibility

William Brand Feldman

Creator

• Feldman, William Brand, 1982-

Subject

• Contracting out -- Moral and ethical aspects
• War (Philosophy)
• Mercenary troops -- Moral and ethical aspects
• Private military companies -- Moral and ethical aspects
• War -- Moral and ethical aspects
• Legitimacy of governments

Language

eng

Summary

"This book offers a comprehensive moral theory of privatization in war. It examines the kind of wars that private actors might wage separate from the state and the kind of wars that private actors might wage as functionaries of the state. The first type of war serves to probe the ad bellum question of whether private actors can justifiably authorize war, while the second type of war serves to probe the in bello question of whether private actors can justifiably participate in war. The cases that drive the analysis are drawn from the rich and complicated history of private military action, stretching back centuries to the Italian city-states whose mercenaries were reviled by Machiavelli. The book also takes up the hypothetical examples conjured by philosophers--the private protective agencies of Robert Nozick's Anarchy, State, and Utopia, for example, and the private armies of Thomas More's Utopia. The aim of this book is to propose a theory of privatization that retains currency not only in assessing current military engagements, but past and future ones as well. In doing so, it also raises a set of important questions about the very enterprise of war. This book will be of much interest to students of ethics, political philosophy, military studies, international relations, war and conflict studies, and security studies."--Provided by publisher

Member of

• War, conflict and ethics

Dewey number

172/.42

Index

index present

Literary form

non fiction

Nature of contents

• dictionaries
• bibliography

Series statement

War, conflict and ethics