The Law of Armed Conflict: International Humanitarian Law in War introduces law students and undergraduates to the law of war in an age of terrorism. What law of armed conflict/international humanitarian law applies to particular armed conflicts? Does that law apply to terrorists as well? What is the status of participants in an armed conflict? What constitutes a war crime? What is a lawful target and how are targeting decisions made? What are rules of engagement? What weapons are lawful and unlawful, and why? This text takes the reader through these essential questions of the law of armed conflict and international humanitarian law to an awareness of finer points of battlefield law. The U.S.-weighted text incorporates lessons from many nations and includes hundreds of cases from jurisdictions worldwide.

Emerging technologies have always played an important role in armed conflict. From the crossbow to cyber capabilities, technology that could be weaponized to create an advantage over an adversary has inevitably found its way into military arsenals for use in armed conflict. The weaponization of emerging technologies, however, raises challenging legal issues with respect to the law of armed conflict. As States continue to develop and exploit new technologies, how will the law of armed conflict address the use of these technologies on the battlefield? Is existing law sufficient to regulate new technologies, such as cyber capabilities, autonomous weapons systems, and artificial intelligence? Have emerging technologies fundamentally altered the way we should understand concepts such as law-of-war precautions and the principle of distinction? How can we ensure compliance and accountability in light of technological advancement? This volume of the Lieber Studies explores these critical questions while highlighting the legal challenges--and opportunities--presented by the use of emerging technologies on the battlefield.

Comments by Ove Bring.

International law and armed conflict exist in a symbiotic relationship. In some cases, law shapes conflict proactively by imposing normative limits in advance of the appearance of proscribed conduct. Much more commonly, armed conflict either reveals lacunae in the law or demonstrates how law designed for yesterday’s wars falls short when applied to contemporary conflict. When that happens, international law reacts by allowing provisions to fall into desuetude, embracing new interpretations of existing prescriptions, or generating new norms through practice or codification. In the 21st Century, both international security and armed conflict are the subject of arguably unprecedented sea changes. As a result, claims that both the jus ad bellum and jus in bello are unwieldy and ill-fitting in the context of modern hostilities have surfaced prominently. Whether one agrees with such dire assessments, what has become clear is that armed conflict is increasingly exposing faultlines in the law governing the resort to force. The intent of this collection of essays in honour of Professor Yoram Dinstein on the occasion of his 70th birthday is to explore such faultlines, first by identifying them and then by assessing their consequences. In a sense, then, the essays, contributed by the top minds in the field, will serve to assist academics and practitioners to anticipate pressure on the law governing armed conflict and, to the extent possible, react accordingly. Paralleling Professor Dinstein’s classic works – War, Aggression, and Self-Defence and The Conduct of Hostilities Under the Law of International Armed Conflict − the book addresses both ius ad bellum and ius in bello topics.

Ten years after the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2011, Rethinking the Law of Armed Conflict in an Age of Terrorism, edited by Christopher Ford and Amichai Cohen, brings together a range of interdisciplinary experts to examine the problematic encounter between international law and challenges presented by conflicts between developed states and non-state actors, such as international terrorist groups. Through examinations of the counter-terrorist experiences of the United States, Israel, and Colombia--coupled with legal and historical analyses of trends in international humanitarian law--the authors place post-9/11 practice in the context of the international legal community's broader struggle over the substantive content of international rules constraining state behavior in irregular wars and explore trends in the development of these rules. From the beginning of international efforts to rewrite the laws of armed conflict in the 1970s, the legal rules to govern irregular conflicts of the "state-on-nonstate" variety have been contested terrain. Particularly in the wake of the 9/11 attacks, policymakers, lawyers, and scholars have debated the merits, relevance, and applicability of what are said to be competing "war" and "law enforcement" paradigms of legal constraint--and even the degree to which international law can be said to apply to counter-terrorist conflicts at all. Ford & Cohen's volume puts such debates in historical and analytical context, and offers readers an insight into where the law has been headed in the fraught years since September 2001. The contributors provide the reader with differing perspectives upon these questions, but together their analyses make clear that law-governed restraint remains a cardinal value in counter-terrorist war, even as the law stands revealed as being much more contested and indeterminate than many accounts would have it. Rethinking the Law of Armed Conflict in an Age of Terrorism provides an important conceptual framework through which to view the development of the law as the policy and legal communities move into the second decade of the "global war on terrorism."

Experienced authors with over 45 years combined teaching and working in the field use fundamental principles and sources to instruct and guide discussion about the application of the law of armed conflict to contemporary and future questions. Students can gain a solid foundation in the law and develop the tools they need to analyze complex legal problems. International Law and Armed Conflict shows how the law informs operational and policy decision-making. Placing the law of armed conflict in context with related fields, such as human rights law and national security law, the text provides a complete framework for understanding legal paradigms during and after conflict. Innovative materials allow flexibility across a range of class scenarios, from a stand-alone course to part of a broader survey class. New to the Second Edition: New technologies and the law of armed conflict, including cyber, unmanned aerial vehicles and autonomous weapons systems The conflict in Syria, including ISIS, genocide and chemical weapons attacks Humanitarian assistance and the challenges of protecting the civilian population in urban conflicts Contemporary debates regarding detention in non-international armed conflict, human rights law, and targeted killing Professors and students will benefit from: Experienced authors with over 45 years combined teaching and working in the law of armed conflict field in the military, at think tanks, and in academia Use of the fundamental principles and sources of the law to inform discussions and questions about contemporary and future questions An approach that gives students a solid foundation in the law and the analytical tools they need to analyze complex legal situations and problems and to understand how the law informs and impacts operational and policy decision-making Context that ties together the law of armed conflict with other related fields, such as human rights law and national security law, to provide a complete framework for understanding the legal paradigm applicable during and after conflict Teaching materials include: Substantive and innovative tools and materials to teach this topic as a stand-alone class or as part of a broader class on a range of related topics A Teacher’s manual with additional sources, discussion points, and key background information, all designed for maximum use and flexibility in a range of class scenarios

Written by a team of distinguished and internationally renowned experts, this Oxford Handbook gives an analytical overview of international law as it applies in armed conflicts. The Handbook draws on international humanitarian law, human rights law, and the law of neutrality to provide a comprehensive picture of the status of law in war.

Laws regulating armed conflict have existed for centuries, but the bulk of these provisions have been concerned with wars between states. Relatively little attention has been paid to the enormously important area of internal armed conflict. At a time when international armed conflicts are vastly outnumbered by domestic disputes, this book seeks to redress the balance through a comprehensive analysis of those rules which exist in international law to protect civilians during internal armed conflict. From regulations in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries according to the doctrine of recognition of belligerency, this book traces the subsequent development of international law by the Geneva Conventions and their additional Protocols, as well as through the more recent jurisprudence of the Yugoslav and Rwandan tribunals. The book also considers the application of human rights law during internal armed conflict, before assessing how effectively the applicable law is, and can be, enforced.

The law of armed conflict is a key element of the global legal order yet it finds itself in a state of flux created by the changing nature of warfare and the influences of other branches of international law. The Routledge Handbook of the Law of Armed Conflict provides a unique perspective on the field covering all the key aspects of the law as well as identifying developing and often contentious areas of interest. The handbook will feature original pieces by international experts in the field, including academics, staff of relevant NGOs and (former) members of the armed forces. Made up of six parts in order to offer a comprehensive overview of the field, the structure of the handbook is as follows: Part I: Fundamentals Part II: Principle of distinction Part III: Means and methods of warfare Part IV: Special protection regimes Part V: Compliance and enforcement Part VI: Some contemporary issues Throughout the book, attention is paid to non-international conflicts as well as international conflicts with acknowledgement of the differences. The contributors also consider the relationship between the law of armed conflict and human rights law, looking at how the various rules and principles of human rights law interact with specific rules and principles of international humanitarian law in particular circumstances. The Routledge Handbook of the Law of Armed Conflict provides a fresh take on the contemporary laws of war and is written for advanced level students, academics, researchers, NGOs and policy-makers with an interest in the field.