The Stockholm Centre for the Ethics of War and Peace is funded by the Knut and Alice Wallenberg Foundation, and based in the Philosophy Department at Stockholm University. SCEWP is directed by Helen Frowe, Professor of Practical Philosophy and Knut and Alice Wallenberg Scholar at Stockholm.

SCEWP’s purpose is to explore the ethics of war and mechanisms for peace in the 21st century. Over the years, our research has broadened to include a wide range of philosophical and practical problems connected to war, such as the nature and scope of our duties to rescue, the ethics of immigration, responsibility for war crimes, and the protection of cultural heritage in war, as well as more familiar questions about just causes for war, the ethics of foreign intervention, and the just fighting of war. Our research has a strong theoretical dimension, addressing fundamental questions of rights, duties, authority,  and moral justification. It also has a strong applied dimension, which brings this theoretical research to bear on specific problems both within and outside of war.

Theoretical Approaches to War

SCEWP’s research focuses, in part, on broad theoretical issues concerning the nature of the morality of war. Historically, just war theory has been dominated by strongly collectivist approaches to war that treat war as a morally distinctive relationship between states. Adherents to this traditional view argue that, in at least some respects, war is to be judged by its own moral rules and cannot be judged by the moral rules that apply to individuals in ordinary life. For example, we might think that even when combatants are engaged in an unjustified war and inflicting unjustified harm, the fact that they are following the orders of their state makes their killings importantly morally different from unjustified killings in ordinary, domestic life.

In recent years, a view known as reductivism has challenged this approach to war. Reductivists deny that there are different moral rules for war in favour of the view that morality is ‘all of a piece’. On this view, the rules that prohibit or permit our actions in war are the same rules that prohibit or permit our actions in other spheres of life. Many reductivists also adopt a largely individualist approach to the ethics of war, focusing on the moral rights and duties of individuals rather than those of collectives. This different theoretical approach to the morality of war undermines various central tenets of the traditional collectivist view, including the moral equality of combatants and the moral immunity of non-combatants. Research at SCEWP explores this debate and its implications for the ethics of war.

Practical Issues in War and Peace

SCEWP also carries out philosophically robust research on specific aspects of war and reconciliation, such as:

  • Just causes for war
  • The notion of legitimate authority
  • The ethics of assisting rebellions and revolutions
  • The ethics of immigration
  • Civilian immunity
  • Terrorism
  • The protection of cultural heritage sites in war
  • Responsibility for war crimes
  • The use of UAVs (drones)
  • Humanitarian intervention
  • Force protection and the distribution of risk in war

Through our many conferences, workshops, talks and other events, SCEWP aims to inform and improve philosophical, public and policy debates about the ethics of war and peace.

New Symposium on Victor Tadros’ To Do, To Die, To Reason Why (Mind)

This symposium appears in Mind (2023), guest edited by Helen Frowe. The papers for were originally presented at a joint workshop on Victor Tadros’ To Do, To Die, To Reason Why: Individual Ethics in War (OUP, 2020), co-hosted by Princeton University and the Stockholm Centre for the Ethics of War and Peace, Stockholm University, co-sponsored by the Society for Applied Philosophy, Princeton University and the Knut and Alice Wallenberg Foundation.

Find out more details, including links to all articles, on our symposium page.

Published 28th August 2023

Heritage and War: Ethical Issues – a new collection of essays

The Stockholm Centre is part of an ongoing collaborative project on the protection of cultural heritage in war, led by Professor Derek Matravers of the Open University and Professor Helen Frowe.

Findings of the project are published, among other places, in Heritage and War: Ethical Issues (Oxford, Oxford University Press), a volume edited by William Bülow, Helen Frowe, Derek Matravers, and Joshua Lewis Thomas. This collection of original essays provides a range of theoretical perspectives on the destruction and protection of cultural heritage while challenging existing views. The volume also serves as an introduction to the current state of the debate and explores ways of developing the discussion.

More information on the book can be found here.

More information on the research project may be found here.

Published 14th March 2023

CFP: 8th Annual Graduate and Early Career Workshop (Online)

Call for Papers: 8th Annual Graduate and Early Career Workshop (Online)

Stockholm Centre for the Ethics of War and Peace

26th‑27th October 2023, via Zoom

Deadline for submissions: 1st June 2023

The Stockholm Centre for the Ethics of War and Peace is pleased to announce its 8th Annual Graduate and Early Career Workshop. We invite submissions from current and recent graduate students (within two years of receiving their PhD). Papers should address philosophical issues relating to the ethics of war and peace, broadly construed. This includes, for example, papers on causation, responsibility, authority, partiality, scarcity of resources, collective action, punishment, and self-defence. The Stockholm Centre currently has a particular interest in ethical issues connected to migration and refuge.

Each successful applicant will be allocated a faculty respondent who will provide written comments on the paper and serve as a commentator at the retreat. In order to find the most suitable respondents, faculty will be invited after papers have been selected. Past respondents have included Helen Beebee, Yitzak Benbaji, Garret Cullity, Christopher Finlay, Helen Frowe, Adil Haque, Kimberly Kessler Ferzan, Holly Lawford-Smith, Seth Lazar, Kasper Lippert-Rasmussen, Kieran Oberman, Massimo Renzo, David Rodin, Adam Slavny and Laura Valentini.

Papers should be no longer than 8000 words, including notes, and prepared for blind review. Papers should not have been accepted for publication or given revise and resubmit verdicts at the time of submission. Submissions from graduate students should include a letter from their department confirming their year of study. Submissions from early career researchers should include confirmation that they are within two years of receiving their PhD (e.g., a letter from an examiner or supervisor, or a copy of their PhD certificate). Submissions and enquiries should be sent to [email protected] (subject line: “SUBMISSION Annual Workshop”).

Website:
https://stockholmcentre.org/event/cfp-8th-annual-graduate-and-early-career-workshop-online/

Published 6th March 2023

Workshop on Deterrence

CFP: Workshop on Deterrence

Lake Bled, Slovenia

19-20 June 2023

Deadline for submissions: 25th of March 2023

Debates about whether and how third party states ought to respond to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine frequently invoke the importance of deterring further (Russian) aggression. It seems widely accepted, at least in the public and political discourse, that deterring aggression is a just cause for war. And yet there is scant discussion of deterrence as a just cause for force in either the philosophical literature on the ethics of war or the broader literature on defensive harming. There is also a surprising lack of engagement by those working on the ethics of war with the substantial literature on nuclear deterrence.

This workshop will explore how work on deterrence across legal, moral and political philosophy (for example, in relation to punishment, political policies, coercion, and nuclear deterrence) might shed light on the ethics of war. It will combine the discussion of relevant published work with the presentation of new research. Confirmed participants thus far include Helen Frowe, Victor Tadros, Jonathan Parry, Attila Mráz, Nadine Elzein, Patrick Tomlin and Massimo Renzo.

Call for Papers:

Those wishing to present new research should submit papers of no more than 5000 words, suitable for a 40 minute presentation. Papers need not explicitly address the idea of deterrence as a just cause for force. Authors should indicate whether they would also like to participate in the workshop if their paper is not selected for presentation. Participants, including authors, will need to cover their own travel expenses; the Stockholm Centre will cover accommodation for three nights and refreshments / lunches during the workshop for all participants. All participants are expected to attend the whole workshop. Submissions should be emailed to [email protected] (inquiries can also be directed to Helen). The deadline for submissions is the 25th of March 2023.

The workshop will take place at Lovec Hotel, Bled.

Published 17th January 2023

7th Annual Graduate and Early Career Reading Retreat (Online) Call for Papers

7th Annual Graduate and Early Career Reading Retreat (Online)
Stockholm Centre for the Ethics of War and Peace
15-16 June, 2022, via Zoom

Deadline for submissions: 1 April, 2022

The Stockholm Centre is pleased to announce its 7th Annual Reading Retreat. We invite submissions from current and recent graduate students (within two years of receiving their PhD). Papers should address philosophical issues relating to the ethics of war and peace, broadly construed. This includes, for example, papers on causation, responsibility, authority, partiality, scarcity of resources, collective action, punishment, and self-defence. At this time, the Stockholm Centre has a particular interest in papers on migration, refugees, and rights.

Each successful applicant will be allocated a faculty respondent, who will provide written comments on the paper and serve as a commentator at the retreat. In order to find the most suitable respondents, faculty will be invited after papers have been selected. Past respondents have included Kimberly Kessler Ferzan, Adam Slavny, Helen Beebee, Yitzak Benbaji, Garret Cullity, Christopher Finlay, Helen Frowe, Adil Haque, Holly Lawford-Smith, Seth Lazar, Kasper Lippert-Rasmussen, Kieran Oberman, Massimo Renzo, David Rodin, and Laura Valentini.

Papers should be no longer than 8000 words, including notes, and prepared for blind review. Papers should not have been accepted for publication or given revise and resubmit verdicts at the time of submission. Submissions from graduate students should include a letter from their department confirming their year of study. Submissions from early career researchers should include confirmation that they are within two years of receiving their PhD (e.g. letter from examiner or supervisor, or a copy of their PhD certificate). Submissions and enquiries should be sent to [email protected].

Published 9th February 2022

Forthcoming SCEWP chapters in Oxford Studies in Political Philosophy

Joseph Bowen (SCEWP postdoc) and Lisa Hecht (former SCEWP doctoral researcher, and now Affiliated Research and postdoctoral researcher at Stockholm University) both have chapters in the forthcoming volume of Oxford Studies in Political Philosophy, edited by David Sobel and Steven Wall.

Lisa’s paper is called ‘Permissible Rights Infringements, Benefits and Compensation’. Joseph’s paper is called ‘Humanitarian Intervention, Other-Defense, and Consent’, and featured at SCEWP’s 3rd Annual Graduate Reading Retreat in 2016.

 

Published 10th November 2021

New Symposium on Moral Responsibility and Liability to Defensive Harm at Philosophical Studies.

This symposium appears in the Philosophical Studies, guest edited by Helen Frowe and Massimo Renzo (volume 178. issue 11). It follows as a result of the Conversations on War’ project, co-organsed by SCEWP and the Kings College, London’s Yeoh Tiong Lay Centre for Politics, Philosophy, and Law. The Conversations on War project explores how philosophers working on the ethics of war can draw on research in other areas of philosophy to improve our accounts of harming in war and how research on the ethics of war might challenge or illuminate work in those other areas.

Find out more on our journal symposium page here, including links to all the articles.

Published 11th October 2021

CFP: 6th Annual Graduate and Early Career (Virtual) Reading Retreat

6th Annual Graduate and Early Career (Virtual) Reading Retreat
Stockholm Centre for the Ethics of War and Peace
11-12 May, 2021
Location: Zoom

Deadline for submissions: 15 February, 2021

The Stockholm Centre is pleased to announce its 6th Annual Reading Retreat. We invite submissions from current and recent graduate students (within two years of receiving their PhD). Papers should address philosophical issues relating to the ethics of war and peace, broadly construed. This includes, for example, papers on causation, responsibility, authority, partiality, scarcity of resources, collective action, punishment, and self-defence. At this time, the Stockholm Centre has a particular interest in papers on migration, refugees, and rights.

Each successful applicant will be allocated a faculty respondent, who will provide written comments on the paper and serve as a commentator at the retreat. In order to find the most suitable respondents, faculty will be invited after papers have been selected. Past respondents have included Helen Beebee, Yitzak Benbaji, Garret Cullity, Christopher Finlay, Helen Frowe, Adil Haque, Holly Lawford-Smith, Seth Lazar, Kasper Lippert-Rasmussen, Kieran Oberman, Massimo Renzo, David Rodin, and Laura Valentini.

Papers should be no longer than 8000 words, including notes, and prepared for blind review. Papers should not be under review prior to the retreat. Submissions from graduate students should include a letter from their department confirming their year of study. Submissions from early career researchers should include confirmation that they are within two years of receiving their PhD (e.g. letter from examiner or supervisor, or a copy of their PhD certificate). Submissions and enquiries should be sent to [email protected]<mailto:[email protected]>.

Published 2nd December 2020