War Of Choice

Back in the twelfth century, the Jewish scholar Maimonides identified the distinction between an ‘obigatory’ war of survival and what he termed an ‘authorised’ or voluntary war for the aggrandisement of a country of its leader. Obvious contrasts lie between Britain’s confrontation with Nazi Germany during the Second World War and the UK’s invasion, along with France and Israel, of Egypt during the 1956 Suez crisis. However, the historian Lawrence Freedman, a supporter of liberal intervention who drafted sections of Tony Blair’s Chicago speech, has argued that this dichotomy is misleading. All wars, whether of necessity or choice, involve decision-making at some level, and to suggest that some might be thrust upon us suggests an abnegation of responsibility.