Recent armed conflicts— domestic and international— have drawn fresh attention to age-old questions concerning when war can be justified, and what methods and targets are permissible during war. Over more than two millennia, the world’s leading religious traditions— Hinduism, Judaism, Buddhism, Christianity and Islam— have provided guidance in these contested domains. The recent release of World Religions and Norms of War, a volume examining how the religions have responded to pressing moral challenges such as offensive and defensive war, the protection of noncombatants, asymmetric tactics, terrorism, and weapons of mass destruction, opens the door for a greater in depth discussion on the issue.

This roundtable brings together distinguished experts from the United States Institute of Peace (USIP), the International Peace Research Institute Oslo (PRIO) and the United Nations University (UNU) to explore the topic of religion and the use of force in modern armed conflicts.

Archived Audio

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Speakers

• Marshall J. Breger, Discussant
  Professor of Law at the Columbus School of Law, The Catholic University
• Vesselin Popovski
  Senior Academic Programme Officer and Director of Studies on International Order and Justice in the Peace Governance Programme at UNU
  Co-editor of World Religions and Norms of War
• Gregory M. Reichberg
  Research Professor at PRIO
  Co-editor of World Religions and Norms of War
• Henrik Syse, Discussant
  International Peace Research Institute Oslo
• Nicholas Turner
  Academic Programme Associate in the Peace and Governance Programme at UNU
  Co-editor of World Religions and Norms of War
• David Smock, Moderator
  Vice President of the Center for Mediation and Conflict Resolution, U.S. Institute of Peace