MARXISM, INTERNATIONALISM, AND THE JUSTICE OF WAR

This paper examines the UN provisions concerning the legitimate use of force, which justified the 1991 Gulf War, and Michael Walzer's argume nts, which can be read as a justification of the UN provisions. After a brief historical sketch of the approach to internationalism of Marx, Lenin, and the early Bolshevik regime, alternative internationalist c riteria of Jus ad Bellum are proposed, which assume certain forms of c ommon oppression among peoples of different states. If certain forms o f common oppression can be defended (in the case of Marxist theory, ex ploitation and imperialism), and if one shares Walzer's concern for in dividual rights, then the internationalist criteria for Jus ad Bellum are morally superior to the UN's and Walzer's.