A cynic will define 'justification' as an excuse. Rulers and politicians in general employ a wide variety of 'excuses' to 'justify' their decisions and actions. But invariably they do make such claims. In premodern times a standard justification was that they were adhering to the 'will of god(s)'. In some societies that is still the case. Since the Renaissance, in Western Socities the political 'escuse' is 'reasons of state'.

JUSTIFICATION

This section is an extract from the wikipedia entry

Justification:
(also called epistemic justification) is a concept in epistemology used to describe beliefs that one has good reason for holding. Epistemologists are concerned with various epistemic features of belief, which include the ideas of warrant (a proper justification for holding a belief), knowledge, rationality, and probability, among others. Loosely speaking, justification is the reason that someone holds a rationally admissible belief (although the term is also sometimes applied to other propositional attitudes such as doubt). Debates surrounding epistemic justification often involve the structure of justification, including whether there are foundational justified beliefs or whether mere coherence is sufficient for a system of beliefs to qualify as justified. Another major subject of debate is the sources of justification, which might include perceptual experience (the evidence of the senses), reason, and authoritative testimony, among others.
Justification and knowledge:
"Justification" involves the reasons why someone holds a belief that one should hold based on one's current evidence. Justification is a property of beliefs insofar as they are held blamelessly. In other words, a justified belief is a belief that a person is entitled to hold. According to Edmund Gettier, many figures in the history of philosophy have treated "justified true belief" as constituting knowledge. It is particularly associated with a theory discussed in Plato's dialogues Meno and Theaetetus. While in fact Plato seems to disavow justified true belief as constituting knowledge at the end of Theaetetus, the claim that Plato unquestioningly accepted this view of knowledge stuck. The subject of justification has played a major role in the value of knowledge as "justified true belief". Some contemporary epistemologists, such as Jonathan Kvanvig assert that justification isn't necessary in getting to the truth and avoiding errors. Kvanvig attempts to show that knowledge is no more valuable than true belief, and in the process dismissed the necessity of justification due to justification not being connected to the truth.

Conceptions of justification:
William P. Alston identifies two conceptions of justification.:15–16 One conception is "deontological" justification, which holds that justification evaluates the obligation and responsibility of a person having only true beliefs. This conception implies, for instance, that a person who has made his best effort but is incapable of concluding the correct belief from his evidence is still justified. The deontological conception of justification corresponds to epistemic internalism. Another conception is "truth-conducive" justification, which holds that justification is based on having sufficient evidence or reasons that entails that the belief is at least likely to be true. The truth-conductive conception of justification corresponds to epistemic externalism. Theories of justification There are several different views as to what entails justification, mostly focusing on the question "How sure do we need to be that our beliefs correspond to the actual world?" Different theories of justification require different conditions before a belief can be considered justified. Theories of justification generally include other aspects of epistemology, such as knowledge.

Notable theories of justification include:
Foundationalism – Basic beliefs justify other, non-basic beliefs.
Epistemic coherentism – Beliefs are justified if they cohere with other beliefs a person holds, each belief is justified if it coheres with the overall system of beliefs.
Infinitism – Beliefs are justified by infinite chains of reasons.
Foundherentism – A combination of foundationalism and epistemic coherentism, proposed by Susan Haack
Internalism – The believer must be able to justify a belief through internal knowledge.
Externalism – Outside sources of knowledge can be used to justify a belief.
Reformed epistemology – Beliefs are warranted by proper cognitive function, proposed by Alvin Plantinga.
Epistemic skepticism – A variety of viewpoints questioning the possibility of knowledge
Evidentialism – Beliefs depend solely on the evidence for them.
Reliabilism - A belief is justified if it is the result of a reliable process.

Criticism of theories of justification:
Robert Fogelin claims to detect a suspicious resemblance between the theories of justification and Agrippa's five modes leading to the suspension of belief. He concludes that the modern proponents have made no significant progress in responding to the ancient modes of Pyrrhonian skepticism.
William P. Alston criticizes the very idea of a theory of justification. He claims: "There isn't any unique, epistemically crucial property of beliefs picked out by 'justified'. Epistemologists who suppose the contrary have been chasing a will-of-the-wisp. What has really been happening is this. Different epistemologists have been emphasizing, concentrating on, "pushing" different epistemic desiderata, different features of belief that are positively valuable from the standpoint of the aims of cognition."

Here is a typical religious conception of justification

Question: "What is justification? What does it mean to be justified?"
Answer: Simply put, to justify is to declare righteous, to make one right with God. Justification is God’s declaring those who receive Christ to be righteous, based on Christ’s righteousness being imputed to the accounts of those who receive Christ (2 Corinthians 5:21). Though justification as a principle is found throughout Scripture, the main passage describing justification in relation to believers is Romans 3:21-26: “But now a righteousness from God, apart from law, has been made known, to which the Law and the prophets testify. This righteousness from God comes through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe. There is no difference, for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus. God presented him as a sacrifice of atonement, through faith in his blood. He did this to demonstrate his justice, because in his forbearance he had left the sins committed beforehand unpunished—he did it to demonstrate his justice at the present time, so as to be just and the one who justifies those who have faith in Jesus.” We are justified, declared righteous, at the moment of our salvation. Justification does not make us righteous, but rather pronounces us righteous. Our righteousness comes from placing our faith in the finished work of Jesus Christ. His sacrifice covers our sin, allowing God to see us as perfect and unblemished. Because as believers we are in Christ, God sees Christ’s own righteousness when He looks at us. This meets God’s demands for perfection; thus, He declares us righteous—He justifies us. Romans 5:18-19 sums it up well: “Consequently, just as the result of one trespass was condemnation for all men, so also the result of one act of righteousness was justification that brings life for all men. For just as through the disobedience of the one man the many were made sinners, so also through the obedience of the one man the many will be made righteous.” It is because of justification that the peace of God can rule in our lives. It is because of justification that believers can have assurance of salvation. It is the fact of justification that enables God to begin the process of sanctification—the process by which God makes us in reality what we already are positionally. “Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ” (Romans 5:1). Recommended Resource: Making Sense of Salvation by Wayne Grudem

JUSTIFICATION

Justification (theology) From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia:
This article is about the theological concept.
For other uses, see Justification.
In Christian theology, justification is God's righteous act of removing the guilt and penalty of sin while, at the same time, declaring the ungodly to be righteous, through faith in Christ's atoning sacrifice. The means of justification is an area of significant difference amongst the diverse theories of atonement defended within Roman Catholic, Eastern Orthodox and Protestant theologies. Justification is often seen as being the theological fault line that divided Roman Catholicism from the Lutheran and Reformed traditions of Protestantism during the Reformation. Broadly speaking, Catholic, Methodist and Orthodox Christians distinguish between initial justification, which in their view ordinarily occurs at baptism, and final salvation, accomplished after a lifetime of striving to do God's will (sanctification).
In Catholic doctrine, righteousness is "infused", i.e., God “pours” grace into our souls or, “fills” us with his grace more and more over time, while in Protestant doctrine, righteousness is imputed to the ungodly through faith — that is, treated as if it were actually theirs. Catholics believe faith, as is shown through charity and good works (fides caritate formata) justifies sinners. Protestants believe faith apart from works justifies the sinner, based on the blood of Christ. In both Catholic and Protestant doctrine, anyone who truly has faith will produce good works as a product of faith, as a good tree produces good fruit. For Lutherans, justification can be lost with the loss of faith; for Catholics, justification can be lost by mortal sin.[6][7] The Reformed tradition generally holds that justification can never truly be lost; for those who have been justified, will certainly persevere to the end by faith. In Lutheranism and Calvinism, righteousness from God is viewed as being credited to the sinner's account through faith alone, without works.