“The bush doctrine of the pre-emptive war: ¿evolution of ius ad bellum or return to the middle age?”

Abstract

After the 9/11 attacks, the United States re-elaborated a new doctrine denominated preemptive war, which does not recognize the philosophy of the Charter of the United Nations and has been used as a justification to the invasion of Iraq and to sustain a tense situation with Iran. The author maintains that this restatement of the “ius ad bellum” implies a return to the medieval doctrine of the just war and what is even more dangerous, it could lead back to the unilateral self-defense as mechanism to solve international controversies.