Preventive war

A preventive war or preventative war is a war initiated to prevent another party from acquiring a capability for attacking. The power being attacked has either a latent threat capability or has shown through its posturing that it intends to follow suit with a future attack. Preventive war aims to forestall a shift in the balance of power by strategically attacking before the balance of power has a chance to shift in the direction of the adversary. Preventive war is distinct from preemptive war, which is first strike when an attack is imminent. Preventive war undertaken without the approval of the United Nations is illegal under the modern framework of international law, though Robert Delahunty and John Yoo from the George W. Bush administration maintained in their discussion of the Bush Doctrine that these standards are unrealistic.

Advocates of preventive war have ranged from Posadist Communists, who argued for war to destroy capitalism, to western neo-conservatives such as George W. Bush and Donald Rumsfeld, who argued that preventive war is necessary in today's post September 11th world. Proponents claim it has been used throughout American history and is especially relevant in the present as it relates to unconventional war tactics and weapons of mass destruction. The National Security Strategy advocates a policy of proactive counterproliferation efforts, and preventive measures.

There is a consensus that preventive war "goes beyond what is acceptable in international law" and lacks legal basis. While the UN High Level Panel on Threats, Challenges and Change stopped short of rejecting the concept outright, it suggested that there is no right to preventive war. If there are good grounds for initiating preventive war, the matter should be put to the Security Council, which can authorize such action.

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Wikipedia