Drawing on Notre Dame's extensive resources in ethics, Kroc Institute faculty fellows give particular attention to the ethical dimensions of peace and war. Faculty explore both pacifist and just war perspectives on the use of force in the context of contemporary conflicts. Research also examines the the ethics of international intervention and the ethical dillemmas which arise in the enforcing international norms.

The Institute's research on ethics and the use of force, and particularly its work on pacifism and the just war tradition, has benefitted from the seminal work of theologian John Howard Yoder, who was a fellow at the the Kroc Institute until his death in 1997. Many of Yoder's unpublished works on these issues are available online through a site managed by the University of Notre Dame's theology department.

Faculty fellows currently working on ethics and the use of force include:

• Rev. Michael Baxter, C.S.C. (morality of war and Christian peacemaking).
• Rev. David Burrell, C.S.C. (philosophical theology in Judaism, Islam and Christianity).
• David Cortright (nonviolence, Gandhi, ethics of sanctions).
• George Lopez (ethics of sanctions, ethics and international relations).
• Daniel Philpott (reconciliation and transitional justice, ethics and international relations).
• Gerard F. Powers (ethical and legal norms governing the use of military force; ethics and international affairs)
• Todd Whitmore (moral theology and violence, Catholic Social Tradition)

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