Democratic distinctiveness, responsibility, and the politics of ethics in justifications of war

In this contribution, I shed light on two interconnected aspects regarding so-called ‘ethical wars,’ in the sense that Maja Zehfuss has used the term in her latest book, ‘War and the Politics of Ethics.’ Firstly, I argue that the articulation of ethical reasons to justify military action requires discursive conditions of possibility – which are specific to Western liberal democracies – in particular, the idea that democracies are ‘distinct’ and ‘unique’ actors on the global stage holding up to an ethics of responsibility and the corresponding principle of precaution. Secondly, I show that the idea of a ‘democratic distinctness’ and the principle of precaution are stabilised and reiterated in advertisements for modern weapon systems emphasising the ‘precision’ and ‘smartness’ of laser-guided high-tech bombs. In particular, the advertisement of Lockheed Martin’s SCALPEL precision bomb renders its use as a ‘clinical operation,’ which reminds people of a ‘medical surgery’ and helps to sustain the idea of a ‘democratic distinctiveness’ and the illusion of an ‘ethical war.’