This essay seeks to evaluate whether or not  the war in Crimea, conducted by the Russian Federation, is to be considered “just”. This is done in accordance with the theory of Just war, which demands that there be two separate evaluations of the war. Firstly the reasons and actions that lead up to the war must be evaluated if they fulfill the demands set up by the theory, this is called “Jud ad bellum”. Next, the conduct once in the war must be evaluated if it fulfills the demands set up in the theory, this is called “jus in bello”. The Russian occupation of Crimea was not following a declaration of war, was against several international agreements and the war was not a last resort after attempts of diplomatic solutions  all of these actions violate key demands of jus ad bellum. Going through reports by various human rights organizations on the matter, the demands set up by “jus in bello” are determined to not be satisfied, mostly due to the Russian use of torture on prisoners to subtract incriminating information for use in court against prisoners of war.

The CIA has since its inception conducted covert actions that constitute use of military force. This paper examines the use of covert military force by the CIA in Nicaragua and the use of targeted killing by CIA drones and paramilitaries against Islamic terrorists in countries outside the declared warzones of Afghanistan and Iraq. This research utilizes a case study framework viewed from a perspective grounded from theories of just war and international law. Furthermore, this research use three theories from international relation studies to explain why the use of covert military action by the CIA is likely to continue due to the nature of international system.    International law and theories of just war explains in great detail what constitutes legitimate and illegitimate use of force, however, they do not consider the broad implications and consequences of the use of covert actions. A central component of just war is the need for states to justify their actions, which isn’t the case when they conduct their actions covertly. The material relies heavily on reports from American national security experts and historians. The results show that there are several factors within the international political system that enables the use of covert action and I put forward suggestions trying to mitigate the harm and desirability of the utilization of covert military action.