Abstract

The theological and ethical theory of just war was developed in late antiquity, in order to justify the Christian’s fighting in the army, and reformulated in the context of the Conquest of America. In the epoch of sovereign states, the war was legally limited in Europe inasmuch the unrestrained use of violence beyond its borders performed a relief function. Legal pacifism has entrusted to the law the charge to abolish the war. This project has been challenged by theoretical and practical paradoxes and failures, and undermined by the technological development of warfare. From the end of the Cold War, the moral theory of just war has been paradoxically revived in the context of globalization and hegemonic unilateralism. The law has been utilized also to legitimize the war and is not sufficient to extirpate the social, economical, cultural, anthropological roots of war, but it is a necessary resource