Just war theory was developed during the Roman empire as a set of rules in which war can be deemed morally justifiable. It was developed so the Christians under Roman rule could fight for the empire without any moral consequences. There are 8 stipulations in Just war theory which outlines on what grounds war is morally justifiable. Some of these stipulations include that a war must be declared by a government; the good must outweigh the evil and no innocent should suffer. Many adopt just war theory as stance in the 21 st century as they believe that it clearly sets out guidelines which can be followed internationally to try and prevent innocents getting harmed in warfare. Furthermore, those who adopt this stance, both religious and non- religious, would agree that justice and fairness are important values to uphold in society, Just war theory adheres to both of these values therefore it is a position which should be adopted in the 21 st century. Religious advocators of Just war theory would argue that it is a realistic stance as sometimes it is necessary to begin a war to get rid of evil and just war theory lays a moral groundwork by which this could happen.

However, many believe just war theory is not a realistic stance, many of the stipulations of the theory are extremely hard to both apply internationally or adhere to. For example, a Just war theory states that all other means have to be exhausted before it is morally acceptable to go to war it is hard to judge when a country have tried everything, could there always be something more done before war is declared? It is also hard to interpret the use of minimum force which Just war theory advocates. As minimum force can be interpreted as 100 men and 50 tanks or it could be interpreted to mean mean and 5000 tanks. Thus these problems of interpreting just war theory can be seen as supporting the claim that it is not a realistic approach. More importantly, Just war theory states no innocents shall suffer, but innocents always suffer during war, whether it be civilians, UN peacekeepers or the families of soldiers who are killed. People always suffer during war. It could be argued that it is not a realistic approach as it can be too bureaucratic and time consuming. Wars can happen at a drop of a hat, especially civil wars, it is not realistic to think if civil war is going to break out you have people sitting around a table looking at the stipulations and making a decision on whether it is a just war.

Some religious followers such as Christians may argue that Just war theory is not a realistic stance to take because war is never morally justifiable. They argue that the Bible does not support the use of violence in fact quite the opposite, it states in the Bible; “Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God.” Matthew 5:9 and ‘Love thy neighbour as you love yourself.’ Leviticus 19:18. Therefore the only realistic stance to adopt is that of pacifism, rejecting war in all circumstances.