Modern-war pacifism, sometimes known as "just-war pacifism"Pavlischek, Keither. "The Justice in Just War," First Things, May 2000. or "nuclear pacifism" is a moral position that holds that modern war can never be morally justified.Johnson, James Turner. "Just War" in The Blackwell Encyclopedia of Political Thought, p. 258. Ed. David Miller. 1987. . It is distinct however from other forms of pacifism in that it recognizes that, in certain historical contexts, wars might have been capable of being justified, and thus it presupposes the validity of the just war theory. In the view of modern-war pacifism, the destructive potential of modern (especially nuclear) weapons makes it presumptively impossibleBraun, C.N. "The Catholic Presumption Against War Revisited," International Relations, 2020. for any modern war to meet the proportionality criterion of the just war theory.
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