6 - Joint Satisfaction Thesis I

Summary

Chapter 6 revises two of the shortcomings from which the inevitable conflict thesis suffers. First, the inevitable conflict thesis claims that military necessity and humanity in their material context never coincide. On the contrary, there are numerous instances where a belligerent act is both humane and necessary, or both inhumane and unnecessary, as the case may be. Second, according to the inevitable conflict thesis, both military necessity and humanity generate imperatives. For the purposes of IHL norm-creation, however, there is simply no reason why materially necessary acts should be performed, or why materially unnecessary ones should be avoided. This shows that military necessity is normatively indifferent. Although humanity generates imperatives in many cases, it also remains indifferent in others.