Proportionality (in War)
INTERNATIONAL ENCYCLOPEDIA OF ETHICS, Wiley & Sons, 2012
8 Pages Posted: 24 Feb 2012 Last revised: 13 Aug 2013
Date Written: February 22, 2012
Abstract
This entry for the International Encyclopedia of Ethics discusses the moral and legal requirement of proportionality in armed conflict. Among other things, the entry discusses the relationship between proportionality and just cause; the relative weight of the harms inflicted and the harms prevented by war and acts of war; the relevance of national partiality; and the effect of human shields and mixed battle spaces on the stringency of the proportionality requirement.
Keywords: proportionality, war, armed conflict, just cause, distinction, precaution, necessity, discrimination, combatants, civilians, human shields, intermingling
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