Glossary: just war

"Just war" is a concept of the old Socialist movement, which made an ethical distinction between defensive wars fought by the oppressed, and offensive wars fought by oppressors. Defensive wars fought to throw-off oppression were considered just; offensive wars fought to oppress were considered unjust.

To take an historical example. When the Nazis invaded Yugoslavia in 1941 they waged an unjust war of conquest and national oppression, that is to say, oppression of a whole nation. When the Yugoslav people responded with their guerilla war of resistance to Nazi occupation they waged a just war of national liberation.

Analytically, the Socialist movement considered these to be two different and distinct wars. The war which the Nazis waged was unjust; the war the Yugoslavs waged was just.