Democratic distinctiveness, responsibility, and the politics of ethics in justifications of war

ABSTRACT

In this contribution, I shed light on two interconnected aspects regarding so-called ‘ethical wars,’ in the sense that Maja Zehfuss has used the term in her latest book, ‘War and the Politics of Ethics.’ Firstly, I argue that the articulation of ethical reasons to justify military action requires discursive conditions of possibility – which are specific to Western liberal democracies – in particular, the idea that democracies are ‘distinct’ and ‘unique’ actors on the global stage holding up to an ethics of responsibility and the corresponding principle of precaution. Secondly, I show that the idea of a ‘democratic distinctness’ and the principle of precaution are stabilised and reiterated in advertisements for modern weapon systems emphasising the ‘precision’ and ‘smartness’ of laser-guided high-tech bombs. In particular, the advertisement of Lockheed Martin’s SCALPEL precision bomb renders its use as a ‘clinical operation,’ which reminds people of a ‘medical surgery’ and helps to sustain the idea of a ‘democratic distinctiveness’ and the illusion of an ‘ethical war.’

KEYWORDS:

• Ethics
• military industry
• weapon advertisements
• democratic warfare

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

Notes

1. https://www.deutschlandfunkkultur.de/koehler-mehr-respekt-fuer-deutsche-soldaten-in-afghanistan.1008.de.html?dram:article_id=163260.

2. The German attacks on London during the Second World War are called ‘The Blitz.’ They have caused the death of more than 40.000 people.

3. Although Zehfuss dismisses the notion of ‘liberal wars’ as this terminology is dissociated from the ‘West,’ there are some similarities in the arguments. John Vasquez, for example, has defined ‘liberal wars’ as war ‘that are based on moral claims to do what is right rather than claims about the national interest.’ (Vasquez 2005, 307).

4. Remarks by President Trump to the 72nd Session of the United Nations General Assembly; https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefings-statements/remarks-president-trump-72nd-session-united-nations-general-assembly/.

5. https://news.un.org/en/story/2018/09/1020472.

6. Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Lu Kang’s Regular Press Conference on 18 April 2016, http://frankfurt.china-consulate.org/det/fyrth/t1356427.htm.

7. ‘Responsibility is the care for another being, that is recognized as an obligation and which in the case of a threat to the vulnerability of the being, becomes concern’, see also (Masferrer and García-Sánchez 2016, 103).

8. Peace Without Conquest Performed by President Lyndon B. Johnson Recorded 7 April 1965 at John Hopkins University, https://www.historyonthenet.com/authentichistory/1961-1974/4-vietnam/1-overview/4-1964-1968/19650407_LBJ_Peace_Without_Conquest_Speech.html.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Axel Heck

Dr. Axel Heck is Senior Lecturer in International Relations at Kiel University. His research focuses on representations of war and collective violence in media, culture, and society. He has published his work in journals such as the European Journal of International Relations, International Studies Perspectives or Global Discourse.