War by Agreement

<em>War by Agreement</em> presents a new theory on the ethics of war. It shows that wars can be morally justified at both the <em>ad bellum</em> level (the political decision to go to war) and the <em>in bello</em> level (its actual conduct by the military)by accepting a contractarian account of the rules governing war. According to this account the rules of war are anchored in a mutually beneficial and fair agreement between the relevant players - the purpose of which is to promote peace and to reduce the horrors of war. The book relies on the long social contract tradition and illustrates its fruitfulness in understanding and developing the morality and the law of war.<br>