CEU Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2024
| Author | Brucato, Giorgia |
|---|---|
| Title | Justice for Children After War |
| Summary | Political societies are bound by law and morality to protect children from violence and shield them from the worst effects of war, yet children continue to suffer tremendously because of ongoing and emerging conflicts: when protection fails, and because children experience war in ways that profoundly affect the realization of their important interests and developing capacities, we ought to acknowledge the consequences and try to make up for the damages. During war, children’s vulnerabilities are exacerbated, and they are exposed to extraordinary situations, the consequences of which extend into the post-war phase, creating special entitlements to justice; but such phases also offer unique opportunities for transformation in society’s political arrangements, and there might be good reasons why children who experienced war should be allowed to contribute to the relevant political and other processes aimed at the realization of peace and justice in some various, adequate ways. While there seem to be widely shared assumptions about wars victimizing children, and the urgency of our moral obligations to assist children’s recovery in their aftermaths, this research contributes to solidify the normative framework to identify and respond to the morality and justice salient features of children who experienced war. This work thus answers the questions of what is owed as a matter of justice to children who experienced war; investigating what is the morally right way in which societies transitioning from war to peace should their younger generations impacted by war, and what role, if any, children who experienced war could (or, should) play in building more peaceful, just societies, once the war is over. In order to answer, I first examine what happens to children in war, in terms of harms and experiences they may go through, and then develop three justice-based claims, of compensation of recognition, built around children’s morally weighty interests, in particular: in having good childhoods, leading to the Lost Childhood Claim; in developing their moral powers (in their Rawlsian understanding, capacities for a sense of justice and to form, revise, and pursue a conception of the good), leading to the Moral Powers Development Claim; and in living in a peaceful, just society, while further attracting participatory rights in the realization of peace and justice as important political goals after war, when they develop the relevant capacities to do so, leading to the Political Participation Claim. While the case of children who experienced war illustrates many ways in which such important interests can be frustrated, or prompted in surprising ways, the arguments built in support of children’s war-related, justice-based claims could be further developed and adjusted to adequately identify and justify the urgent claims of children who experienced other types of pervasive harm, injustices, or critical political situations. In this work I ultimately focus on what justice demands society does for children who experienced war, but end up opening space to investigate what justice may demand of children, as potential agents of peace and justice. |
| Supervisor | Miklosi, Zoltan |
| Department | Political Science PhD |
| Full text | https://www.etd.ceu.edu/2024/brucato_giorgia.pdf |
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