Fair, unfair and asymmetrical war: A critical approach of the international norms of the war

Abstract

The war is an inherent variable in the international system since the Peace of Westphalia, being presented by the States as a matter of survival. This rhetoric of states constitutes an ideological struggle promoted in the international system to justify the European expansion under the argument of the civilizing mission, which is still used today by powerful states to justify the intimidating and arrogant universalization of democracy and human rights. To rationally justify war, it is necessary to create a right that can guarantee the national interest of states in an expansionist way, while consolidating this ideology in international institutions to ensure that its legitimacy has scientific and rational bases. However, resistance, outside the bases created by the international law of a colonial nature, causes opponents to become marginal or criminal, not considering the nature of their demands. Thus, the present work intends to critically point out the use of international law to promote processes of legal and political colonization that subjects the States of the Global South to a dependence of values that ignores the complexity and variety of the identity formation of these peoples.

Keywords: International law, war, colonialism, resistance.