Τhe course focuses on the problem of the limitation of war violence. There are two ways to obtain this limitation. The first is through the application of the rules prescribed by Just War theory. The second is the legitimization of certain forms of war and the de-legitimization of some others, in function of the type of State which is dominant in a certain historical era. The course examines the theoretical tradition of Just War in parallel with the consecutive forms of legitimization of war. It focuses in particular at the moment when the modern form of legitimization turns itself against Just War tradition on the ground that this tradition unleashes war violence instead of moderating it. At the same time it studies the counter-arguments from the Just War theory view-point: its main spokesman today, Michael Walzer, considers that the concept of a “Just War” is a critical tool allowing us to denounce the ideological legitimization of war if this does not comply with the criteria of justice. Within this framework, the course examines the central problems of the “ethics of war” like the distinction between combatants and non-combatants, the idea of the humanitarian intervention, of the preemptive or preventive war, of a first strike, the problem of revolutionary and guerilla warfare etc.