A new assessment of the debates about Just War in the twentieth and twenty-first centuries, from the imperial wars of the nineteenth century through the age of total war, the evolution of human rights discourse and international law, to proportionality during the Cold War and the redefinition of authority with the ascendancy of terror groups.

Introduction; D.Welch & J.Fox PART I: EMPIRE, WAR AND THE MODERN AGE: IMPERIALISM AND CONFLICT IN THE NINETEENTH CENTURY Justifying the South African War: Boer Propaganda, 1899-1902; F-J.Pretorius Justifying 'New Imperialism': The Making of Colonial Heroes, 1857-1902; B.Sèbe PART II: THE FIRST WORLD WAR: CONFLICT AND AFTERMATH War Aims and the 'Big Ideas' of 1914; D.Welch 'Why We Are At War': Justifying War in Britain, 1914; C.Pennell Advertising and the Public in Britain during the First World War; J.Aulich Justifying Chemical Warfare: The Origins and Ethics of Britain's Chemical Warfare Programme, 1915-1939; U.Schmidt Britain's 'Last Crusade': From War Propaganda to War Commemoration, c. 1914-1930; S.Goebel PART III: THE SECOND WORLD WAR: JUSTIFYING GLOBAL CONFLICT Saving Civilization: British Opinion and the Coming of War in 1939; R.Overy 'There will be no war': The Daily Express and the Approach of War, 1938-39; S.Nicholas Fighting for Freedom: World War II and a Century of American War Propaganda; S.Brewer From War Talk to Rights Talk: War Aims and Human Rights in the Second World War; J.Winter PART IV: COLD WAR: JUSTIFYING IDEOLOGIES 'The Great Movement to Resist America and Assist Korea': How Beijing Sold the Korean War; G.D.Rawnsley Aesthetic Enemies: The 'Two Cultures' Theory at the Outset of the Cold War; O.Johnson Justifying Vietnam: The United States Information Agency's Vietnam Campaign for International Audiences; N.Cull PART V: INTO THE MODERN AGE: JUSTIFYING WAR IN THE 21ST CENTURY Humanitarian War: Justifying Western Military Intervention, 1991-2001; S.Badsey Cosmopolitanism and Precautionary War; P.Hammond Justifying the Iraq War and Managing the Media: A Comparative Historical Analysis; R.Johnson Losing the (Information) War on Terror; P.M.Taylor Epilogue: The Role of the Media in Justifying and Promoting War: a Practioner's Perspective; P.Knightley Select Bibliography