International Law and the Use of Force

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gray Christine
Keyword(s):  
International Law ◽  
Use Of Force ◽  
Military Operations ◽  
Regional Organizations ◽  
Enforcement Action ◽  
Un Peacekeeping ◽  
The Usa ◽  
The Government ◽  
Self Defence

This book explores the use of force in international law. It examines not only the use of force by states but also the role of the UN in peacekeeping and enforcement action, and the increasing role of regional organizations in the maintenance of international peace and security. The UN Charter framework is under challenge: Russia’s invasion of Georgia and intervention in Ukraine, the USA’s military operations in Syria, and Saudi Arabia’s campaign to restore the government of Yemen by force all raise questions about the law on intervention. The ‘war on terror’ that began after the 9/11 terrorist attacks on the USA has not been won. It has spread far beyond Afghanistan, leading to targeted killings in Pakistan, Somalia, and Yemen, and to intervention against ISIS in Iraq and Syria. Is there an expanding right of self-defence against non-state actors? The development of nuclear weapons by North Korea has reignited discussion about the legality of pre-emptive self-defence. The NATO-led operation in Libya increased hopes for the implementation of ‘responsibility to protect’, but it also provoked criticism for exceeding the Security Council’s authorization of force because its outcome was regime change. UN peacekeeping faces new challenges, especially with regard to the protection of civilians, and UN forces have been given revolutionary mandates in several African states, but UN peacekeeping is not suited to counter-terrorism or enforcement operations. The UN now turns to regional organizations as first responders in situations of ongoing armed conflict.

From Knives to Kites: Developments and Dilemmas around the Use of Force in the Israeli–Palestinian Conflict since ‘Protective Edge’

2019 ◽  
Vol 10 (2) ◽  
pp. 303-336 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hilly Moodrick-Even Khen
Keyword(s):  
Law Enforcement ◽  
International Law ◽  
Use Of Force ◽  
Legal Regulation ◽  
The Self ◽  
Military Operations ◽  
Legal Questions ◽  
The Law ◽  
Israeli Occupation ◽  
Self Defence

This article analyses the legal regulation of the use of force in international law in the context of three emerging Palestinian forms of struggle against Israeli occupation: the Knife Intifada, the disturbances at the border, and the launching of incendiary kites. It discusses what legal paradigms or concepts should regulate the type and level of force used in each situation – a question that is complicated by various dilemmas – and finally, appraises the Israel Defence Forces policies tailored in response. The article evaluates the applicability of two legal paradigms regulating the use of force in military operations – (i) the conduct of hostilities and (ii) law enforcement – as well as the concept of personal self-defence in international law and the escalation of force procedure. While the Knife Intifada clearly falls under the law enforcement paradigm, the disturbances at the border and the launching of incendiary kites raise more difficult legal questions. Categorising them under a paradigm of law enforcement is less straightforward, and may have undesirable ramifications for safeguarding humanitarian interests. The article argues that the use of force in the disturbances at the border and the incendiary kites cases should be regulated by the concept of self-defence and escalation of force procedure, and that the application of the self-defence concept should be adapted, mutatis mutandis, to situations of law enforcement and to situations of hostilities.

Challenge or Confi rmation? The Role of the Swedish Parliament in the Decision-making on the Use of Force

2011 ◽  
Vol 80 (1) ◽  
pp. 25-93 ◽  
Author(s):  
Inger Österdahl
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Use Of Force ◽  
Peace Operations ◽  
Democratic Accountability ◽  
International Peace ◽  
Strong Position ◽  
The Government ◽  
The Cold War ◽  
Self Defence

AbstractThe Swedish parliament has a strong position in the decision-making on the international use of force. Still, its role is affected by the rapid internationalization of the Swedish defence. More and quicker decisions have to be taken on Swedish contributions to international peace operations. The origin of the decisions of the Swedish parliament, moreover, can be traced to international decision-making bodies on which the Swedish parliament and sometimes even the Swedish government have no influence at all. Parliament is conscious of its important role and looks after its interests in the domestic decision-making context. Sometimes it challenges the government on specific issues relating to the operations, but in the end parliament always tend to agree and unanimously as well. This article studies the involvement of the Swedish parliament in the decision-making on the contribution of armed troops to international peace operations since the end of the Cold War. The article gives particular attention to the use – or not – of the law delegating the decision-making power over troop contributions entirely to the government. The issue of self-defence against armed attacks on the Realm is also taken up and the potential impact of an expanded notion of self-defence on the decision-making role of parliament. Concerns of democratic accountability form the background to the reasoning in its entirety.

Applying Necessity and Proportionality to Anti-Terrorist Self-Defence

2012 ◽  
Vol 45 (1) ◽  
pp. 91-106 ◽  
Author(s):  
Christian J Tams ◽  
James G Devaney
Keyword(s):  
International Law ◽  
Use Of Force ◽  
Practical Relevance ◽  
Excessive Force ◽  
Military Operations ◽  
Crucial Importance ◽  
Terrorist Threat ◽  
Foreign State ◽  
Self Defence ◽  
Inter State

Recent years have seen increasing reliance on self-defence as a concept justifying the use of force against armed attacks by terrorists operating from within a foreign state. While the matter has prompted major debates, a good case can be made that contemporary international law now begins to recognise a right of self-defence against attacks by terrorists. (We will refer to this in the following as ‘anti-terrorist self-defence’, meaning a response directed against an attack carried out by a terrorist organisation.) This article deliberately does not rehearse the major debates about the scope of self-defence, but moves beyond them. It seeks to assess whether and how the two main limitations on the exercise of self-defence – namely necessity and proportionality – could be adapted to self-defence outside the inter-state setting. It shows that both limitations do indeed require some adaptation in order to be applied to anti-terrorist self-defence.With respect to necessity, we argue that this adaptation is actually a chance to make sense of a requirement that is of very limited practical relevance in the inter-state setting. As the article shows, necessity can assume a crucial role in the anti-terrorist setting: in order for trans-border uses of force to be necessary, states invoking self-defence must demonstrate that the terrorist threat cannot be repelled by the host state (on whose territory the terrorists are based).As for proportionality, recent debates about anti-terrorist self-defence expose the weaknesses of proportionality as a restraint on self-defence. Construed primarily as a prohibition against excessive force, even in the inter-state setting, proportionality has always been dependent on the nature of the aims pursued in the name of self-defence. Recent anti-terrorist practice suggests that many states are prepared to accept far-reaching uses of force against terrorists. It also suggests that, in applying proportionality, the targeted (or otherwise) character of the response is of crucial importance. The law is clearly in a state of flux, but in debates such as those about Turkey's use of force against the PKK or Israel's military operations against Hamas or Hezbollah, one can see the beginning of a process of developing guidelines on proportionality.

1 Law and force

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gray Christine
Keyword(s):  
International Law ◽  
Use Of Force ◽  
Crimes Against Humanity ◽  
Legal Questions ◽  
Legal Constraints ◽  
The Government ◽  
Repressive Regime ◽  
The Right ◽  
Second World

This introductory chapter provides a background to the renewed debate about the legal constraints on the use of force imposed by the UN Charter after the Second World War. The increasing conflicts within states have raised legal questions, first, as to whether there can be a right of unilateral humanitarian intervention to protect citizens from their own governments, second, as to the content of the more recent doctrine of Responsibility to Protect (R2P)—the responsibility of the ‘international community’ to protect a population from war crimes, genocide, and crimes against humanity by the government, and third as to the existence of a right to intervene to overthrow a repressive regime. Even more controversially, the conflict in Syria has brought renewed debate about the scope of the right to self defence in counter terrorism operations. This chapter discusses the problems with the identification of international law on the use of force, the role of international law in this area, and the complexities of any inquiry into its effectiveness.

Rights of the Child

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Asha Bajpai
Keyword(s):  
Civil Society ◽  
International Law ◽  
Legal Framework ◽  
Civil Society Organizations ◽  
Legal Definition ◽  
Rights Of The Child ◽  
The Government ◽  
Definition Of

The chapter commences with the change in the perspective and approach relating to children from welfare to rights approach. It then deals with the legal definition of child in India under various laws. It gives a brief overview of the present legal framework in India. It states briefly the various policies and plans, and programmes of the Government of India related to children. International law on the rights of the child is enumerated and a summary of the important judgments by Indian courts are also included. The chapter ends with pointing out the role of civil society organizations in dealing with the rights of the child and a mention of challenges ahead.

“Knowledge-Based Economics” in the Innovative Development of the Construction Sphere

2015 ◽  
Vol 725-726 ◽  
pp. 996-1001
Author(s):  
Galina Tokunova ◽  
Alexander Petrov
Keyword(s):  
Construction Industry ◽  
Competitive Ability ◽  
Scientific Discipline ◽  
Knowledge Based ◽  
Institutional Structures ◽  
The Usa ◽  
Business Structures ◽  
The Government ◽  
Technological Platforms

The increased role of knowledge in the economics, the growth of the role of education and innovations caused the necessity to revise the role of the basic subjects in the market (the government, business structures, universities) and mechanisms of their interaction. The primary importance is now being shifted towards such subjects of innovations as resource centers, innovative businesses, technological platforms, the clusters capable of exerting efficient influence upon the innovations process, which, in its turn, improves the competitive ability of particular spheres of business and entire national economics. This process also influenced the construction industry. The purpose of this research is to analyze the manifestation of the phenomenon of the knowledge-based economics in the construction sphere. The tasks of this research: firstly, to highlight the evolution of the scientific discipline “knowledge-based economics”; secondly, to analyze the efficiency of the phenomenon on the example of the USA, the EC and Russia; thirdly, to analyze the innovative process in the construction sphere; fourthly, to highlight the role of various institutional structures (resource centers, innovative businesses, technological platforms, clusters) for innovative activity in the construction sphere.

scholarly journals 110 years of the Second Hague Conference: role of the Russian diplomacy and International Law doctrine of F. Martens

2017 ◽  
pp. 78-83
Author(s):  
E. Voronin
Keyword(s):  
International Law ◽  
Social System ◽  
Use Of Force ◽  
Russian Society ◽  
Coup D'etat ◽  
Legal Principles ◽  
The Public ◽  
Public Expression ◽  
Real Essence

Facts backed up by documents and contemporary testimonies must serve as a basis for the consequencies of the events of 1917, as a verification of any impartial estimation and indiscriminate view on the most brutal revolt in history, and its consequences.The Russian society needs an impartial, just and deep analysis of these events. Foremost this would require a clear civilised understanding of the real essence of any coup d’etat, whatever name it takes (revolution, classjustified struggle, etc) and whatever banners it bears in history, and whatever propaganda and ideological falcifications determine it.The Constitution of any state ruled by law acknowledges any evolution in the development of the sociaty based on legal principles. Any change of institutes or social system in a state can be realised through the force of laws, which comply with the public expression of will (referendum). In national legislation of the present-day states there are no norms, which establish revolutionary convulsions as legal, which are based on illegitimate take-over with the use of force.

Use of Armed Force against Suspected Foreign Submarines in the Swedish Internal Waters and Territorial Sea

2018 ◽  
Vol 33 (3) ◽  
pp. 585-599
Author(s):  
Said Mahmoudi
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
International Law ◽  
Present Article ◽  
National Level ◽  
Use Of Force ◽  
Armed Force ◽  
National Legislation ◽  
Legal Arguments ◽  
Actual Response ◽  
Self Defence

Abstract Sweden’s territorial sea and internal waters have experienced regular intrusions by submerged foreign submarines since the early 1950s. The response of the country to such intrusions is generally well-documented and mainly public. The present article offers an overview of the development of the relevant national legislation, the actual response of the naval forces, and the legal arguments invoked at national level to justify or dismiss use of force in self-defence or under another title. The article discusses the relevance of the immunity that submarines normally enjoy under international law and Sweden’s human-rights obligations, two issues that have been at the centre of the legal discourse. Particular attention is paid to developments since 2014 when a new round of “submarine hunts” started and led to the adoption of new measures both revising the existing laws and strengthening the defence forces.

The Great War and International Law: German Justifications of Prevention and Pre-emptive Self-Defence

2021 ◽  
pp. 183-206
Author(s):  
Isabel V. Hull
Keyword(s):  
International Law ◽  
Military Leaders ◽  
Customary International Law ◽  
Preventive War ◽  
Early Modernity ◽  
European State ◽  
Jus Ad Bellum ◽  
The Great War ◽  
Self Defence

Isabel V. Hull uses the German declarations of war in 1914 to examine three issues: 1) the role of customary international law (CIL) in statesmen’s decision to go to war (using Germany as an example); 2) the assumptions that state actors held a jus ad bellum; and, especially, 3) how they distinguished self-defence, prevention, pre-emption, and aggression. Hull uses not the claims of jurists, but the arguments and actions of civilian and military leaders, i.e. those who actually made the decisions for war. With this, she continues Anuschka Tischer’s and Hendrik Simon’s examination of the question whether there was a transformation of war discourses in (early) modernity that led to overcoming the need to justify war. The chapter confirms that, even as Germany began a ‘preventive war’, the European state consensus held that, on the continent, preventive war was illegal, pre-emptive war was severely restrained, and genuine self-defence – meaning both fending off armed attack against one’s territory, independence, or sovereignty, and defending the treaty-structure that guaranteed the inter-state order – was the only justification for war acceptable to the community of states.

The Chilcot Report

2019 ◽  
pp. 273-288
Author(s):  
Stephen Bouwhuis
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
United Kingdom ◽  
International Law ◽  
Legal Practice ◽  
Ethical Aspects ◽  
Legal Advice ◽  
The United Kingdom ◽  
General Relevance ◽  
The Government

The inquiry by the United Kingdom into its decision to intervene in Iraq is one of the longest running and most comprehensive examinations of government decision-making. In particular, the inquiry examined in detail the processes by which legal advice was provided to and formed a part of the decision by the Government of the United Kingdom to intervene in Iraq. Through this lens, the current chapter examines what the inquiry illustrates about the general relevance of international law to the decision to intervene in Iraq and more broadly what illustrates about the role of international law in decision-making more generally. In particular, the chapter pertains to the practical and ethical aspects providing international legal advice to government as well as the nature of government legal practice more generally.

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