The Theory of Just War and the Conflict in Kosovo

Abstract

The criteria of the just war theory, formulated in the early Middle Ages (some say already in antiquity), but evolving over the centuries, can be applied to each armed conflict. In the last years of the 20th century, the international community responded to the mass violence perpetrated by the Serbian government against the Kosovo Albanians, who constituted the vast majority of the population in the province of Kosovo (in Serbian, Kosovo-Metohija), part of the former Yugoslavia (within Serbia). First by peaceful means through diplomacy, and then, as a last resort, international community try to manage the tense situation by the use of NATO military force. Did NATO's "humanitarian intervention" meet the principle of just war theory general criteria of jus ad bellum? The study seeks to answer this question comparing the controversial approaches.