War

War is armed conflict among sovereigns or between sovereigns and those they govern.

Just war

The conditions that make a war a "just war" are disputed. One proposed criterion is that a belligerent should have a reasonable chance of winning. Otherwise, it would be merely a futile gesture that would not change anything. The term "reasonable" is, of course, vague, and different people may have different ideas of what it means.

Libertarians have sometimes recognized that a person who tries and fails to overthrow tyranny should not be punished for it, if there is a way to protect him. Thomas Jefferson writes, "The unsuccessful Struggles against Tyranny have been the chief Martyrs of Treason laws in all countries. . . . [W]e should not wish then to give up to the Executioner the Patriot who fails, and flees to us." The U.S. Court of Appeals for the 4th Circuit noted that political offense exceptions were written into extradition treaties "to protect those people who justly fought back against their government oppressors to secure political change."