The 13th International Law and Ethics Conference Series (ILECS) What does it mean to win a war? Belgrade, June 25-27, 2014.

Abstract

The 13th ILECS conference will address the issue of victory in war. When is victory deserved and what is the status of the fact of deserving (or not deserving) a victory? What is the connection between the fact of deserving to win and the concept of defense? Can we have a victory without capitulation? Finally, is capitulation the last resort of defense? The normative pair of victory and defeat might be seen as a constitutive rule of the institution of war, hich opens the issue of the legitimacy of starting a war: is here a similar condition for a war to be started as there is for it to be ended? Has victory become obsolete, perhaps by some (disguised or overt) world control where everything can be determined in advance? For example, what does it mean to win in Iraq or Afghanistan, or “win the war on terror”? These enticing and provocative questions will be discussed at the 13th International Law and Ethics Conference in Belgrade by leading scholars from all over the world.