Just Policing, Not War An Alternative Response to World Violence

The authors thoughtfully present the concept of just policing in a manner that gives reason to hope that such an approach might, if adopted, improve our world.

It calls upon all of us to think again about the implications of the Gospel in a rapidly changing global context. Students of war and peace in Christian thought and practice would do well to read and ponder Just Policing, Not War.

This is a fine book and just policing is an intriguing proposal. Both pacifists and just warriors can learn much from its pages and from wrestling with the proposal. . . . [T]his is a most helpful and interesting initiative--one that should be welcomed by, even as it challenges, both pacifists and just warriors.

[A]n essential book for peacemakers.

Every seminary graduate knows that the church's three main approaches to violence have been pacifism, just war, and crusade. The latter dropped from legitimacy long ago, and since then the chief argument has been between the other two. This important book asks us to consider a new third party to the argument: policing.

[O]ffers fresh and meaningful perspective on navigating tough questions.

What makes us uncomfortable intellectually as well as practically is usually something that challenges our way of understanding and acting. The uncomfortable feeling is often an indication that creativity is at work in a way that makes us look at what we have ignored. Just Policing, Not War, makes me uncomfortable as a pacifist. But perhaps it is in the creative challenging even of what is dear to me-pacifism-that something new and wonderful can be born. The book is eminently worthwhile precisely in its challenge to the just war and the pacifist traditions.

Jane Jacobs, prohibition, and the chaos created by military intrusions in Iraq all remind us that policing can only work when a relatively coherent `relationality' renders disruptive elements marginal. These essays draw on two complementary sets of religious practices to suggest how an international police action could be shaped as an effective alternative to the invariably counter-productive imposing a `military solution,' so allowing political and ecclesial analyses to converge towards imagining fresh forms of order.

If September 11, 2001 was murder rather than war then we desperately need an account of what just policing might look like. Which means this book is extremely important. For here we have the beginnings of an exploration of what just policing might actually entail not only theoretically but also in practice. Not only are the war/pacifism investigated, but also the institutional questions surrounding international relations as well as what the Church must be if just policing is possible are explored in these essays. I cannot recommend this book highly enough for anyone concerned with issues of war and peace.

In proposing the concept of `just policing,' this book breaks new ground in the long discussion between Christians committed to pacifism and those utilizing a `Just War' framework. A focus on policing rather than on war responds to the need for order in society, which both sides would agree is necessary, while at the same time exemplifying the limitations to force that the just war theory calls for. `Just Policing' also provides a fresh way to conceptualize possible responses in the current struggle against terrorism. Schlabach and his collaborators are to be commended for both their exploration of practical examples, and their underlying commitment to searching for common ground between `just war' and pacifist Christians.