War By Agreement: A Contractarian Ethics of War

War by Agreement presents a new theory on the ethics of war. It shows that wars can be morally justified at both the ad bellum level (the political decision to go to war) and the in bello level (its actual conduct by the military). It does so by accepting a contractarian account of the rules governing war, according to which they are anchored in a mutually beneficial and fair agreement between the relevant players to promote peace andreduce the horrors of war.