The revisionist approach to JWT is based on normative individualism and challenges the moral equality of combatants. Orthodox JWT is portrayed at ‘statist’ and rejected as not living up to the requirements of normative individualism.
This paper explores the normative individualism in orthodox JWT and argues that we need to revisit the cosmopolitan-communitarian debates to rethink what a commitment to normative individualism is and what it requires of just war thinking. This prefaces an exploration of a contemporary debate that has at its core a similar dispute over what a commitment to normative individualism requires. Cosmopolitans and constructivists both hold that a moral commitment to individuals is an essential component of global ethics/justice. Yet the way they conceive of that commitment produces distinct approaches to JWT.
The paper disputes the claim that orthodox JWT fails the test of normative individualism and seeks to move the debate to more promising ground.
