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2 Eur. Rev. Int'l Stud. 3 (2015)

handle is hein.journals/epnrvwo2 and id is 1 raw text is: Articles HAVE THE EUROPEANS REPUDIATED THE USE OF FORCE? A DISSENTING VOICE Franck Petiteville Institute of Political Studies, Grenoble Abstract: Because of the pervasive influence of theories about the normative 'devaluation of war' and about the 'preference' of Europeans for 'norms over force', it is commonly as- sumed that Europeans have 'repudiated' the use of force in international relations. However, European governments - especially France and the UK - have participated in a number of important military operations in the post-Cold War era, based on various justifications: sanctions against an aggressive state, protecting civilian populations from large scale crimes, fighting non-state radical armed groups. Most of these operations were multilateral in nature but France has also engaged in several national operations over the last years in Africa. The level of domestic support that these military interventions generally enjoy - as revealed by numerous surveys - indicates that Europeans do not systematically prefer 'norms over force' but still believe in just war norms. Keywords: Europe, military intervention, public opinion, just war, normative power By the end of the Cold War, John Mueller published his famous Retreat from Dooms- day, which has been the subject of a vast debate among international relations schol- ars ever since1. In this book, Mueller argued that what he called 'major wars' have become 'obsolescent' since the Second World War, because of a growing public aversion to war. According to him, this phenomenon is principally due to the devalu- ation of ancestral military values (honour of dying for one's nation, male bravery on the battlefield, military glory associated with victory) and to more acute awareness of the human loss, suffering and destruction provoked by total wars. In other words, pacifists have overcome the pro-war proponents in the long-running battle for the representation of war, which has therefore led to the disappearance of major wars, such as occurred with ancient social practices like duelling or slavery in the past. Mueller's thesis has been contested on many grounds: for promoting a concep- tion of war detached from structural factors (such as international anarchy and states' struggle for power and security), for neglecting the revival of many kinds of vio- lent war (from civil and 'ethnic wars' to asymmetric 'wars on terrorism'), and for overlooking the impact of the 'revolution in military affairs' which allows for wars which have a minimum cost in terms of soldiers' lives (air bombing strategies, use of drones and special forces) and make them more acceptable (if not 'attractive') in the 1 John Mueller, Retreat from Doomsday. The Obsolescence of Major War (New York: Basic Books, 1989). Petiteville: Have the Europeans Repudiated the Use of Force?, ERIS Vol. 2, Issue 1/2015, pp. 3-14

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