Book review: the ethics of armed conflict: a cosmopolitan just war theory by John W. Lango

Just war theory exists to stop armies and countries from using armed force without good cause. But how can we judge whether a war is just? In this book John W. Lango aims to develop a set of cosmopolitan just war principles for all forms of armed conflict, arguing that the more traditional state-centric just war theory should be both globalised and democratised. Alexander Leveringhaus finds some interesting insights here and recommends the book to researchers in political and moral philosophy, but finds that it lacks some elegance in prose as there is a fair amount of repetition.