Defensivism

Defensivism is a philosophical standpoint related in spirit to the Non-aggression principle. It is also a midway point between other combat-based philosophies, that of Just War and Pacifism.

Concept

The standpoint of Defensivism is that only Defensive actions are moral. It "accepts all defensive wars and acts of deterrence as morally just".[1] You may move to someone's aid as long as they are in immediate danger, or protect yourself from immediate harm. To a country, it holds that a military force may never leave its home country's own borders except to move to the aid of someone else (and in such a situation, that they may only protect sites from harm that they are specifically invited to, with no aggressive action taken whatsoever). Vladimir Lenin proposed a version of defensivism, which he called "revolutionary defensivism", wherein war is only pursued as a matter of necessity and not for the sake of conquest.[2] The latter, in his view, is pursued for capitalist interest and results in annexationist rather than democratic peace.[2] There are modern Soviet thinkers who described a defensive war strategy that drew from the works of Alexander Svechin.[3] These promoted a type of counteroffensive that does not inflict a decisive defeat on the enemy and is limited to a side's own territory.[3] A segment of these thinkers also favored a defensive war of attrition with limited war aims as opposed to an objective of complete destruction.[3]

In principle, any form of preemptive strike, any type of capture, revenge, or any situation where one would fire the first actual shot or throw the first actual blow is against the Defensivist standpoint. In cases where an action must be halted to stop an aggressor from achieving a goal to harm, Defensivism allows for actions that assist in removing an imminent threat (e.g. searching an airline passenger for bombs, stop an aggressor from detonating a bomb, stop an aggressor from harming an innocent person). Preemptive action must only be taken to mitigate an imminent threat, never for the purpose of removing a potential threat.

Any form of combative action must cease the moment the opposition stops fighting, withdraws, gives up, or ceases aggressive action.

This does not apply to cases where an aggressor remains an imminent threat upon retreat, as in the case of a gunman shooting a police officer and then fleeing into the public still armed. In such cases the assailant's "retreat" from the first scene still poses an imminent threat to the public, thereby giving defenders the right to both pursue and use force to defend the public from further danger (to either apprehend or use whatever force necessary to mitigate the danger).

Generally, Defensivism only allows the taking of life when the life that would be taken is actively threatening another life.

In foreign policy, defensivism is equated with the policy of a free society, which stresses the social primacy of liberty.[4]

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References
  1. Baofu, Peter (2010). The Future of Post-Human War and Peace: A Preface to a New Theory of Aggression and Pacificity. Newcastle upon Tyne: Cambridge Scholars Publishing. p. 255. ISBN 9781443821070.
  2. Chamberlin, William Henry (2014-07-14). The Russian Revolution, Volume I: 1917-1918: From the Overthrow of the Tsar to the Assumption of Power by the Bolsheviks. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press. pp. 441–442. ISBN 0691054924.
  3. Cimbala, Stephen J. (2006). Clausewitz and Escalation: Classical Perspective on Nuclear Strategy. Oxon: Frank Cass. p. 206. ISBN 0714634204.
  4. Carey, George W. (2014-03-11). Freedom & Virture: The Conservative/Libertarian Debate. Open Road Media. ISBN 9781480492967.
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