Part II Predominant Security Challenges and International Law, Technological Security, Ch.37 Outer Space Security

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Freeland Steven ◽  
Gruttner Elise
Keyword(s):  
International Law ◽  
Armed Conflict ◽  
Driving Force ◽  
Outer Space ◽  
Legal Regulation ◽  
Space Technology ◽  
Military Capability ◽  
Security Challenges ◽  
Critical Issues ◽  
Space Security

This chapter explains how, since the dawn of the space age, security has been a driving force in the development of technical capabilities in outer space. Over the last sixty years, the development of space-related technology has been inextricably linked to military capability—both real and perceived. Today, space is more accessible and depended upon than ever envisaged. The continuing development and reliance on commercial and military space technology challenges the core principle of the ‘peaceful purposes’ doctrine that underpins the current international legal regulation of outer space. The chapter explores the development of activities in outer space, the regulation of national and global space security, and the practical capabilities of leading spacefaring nations. It also highlights some of the critical issues that impact upon security-related concerns for States when it comes to the regulation of armed conflict in outer space. Ultimately, the use of outer space for military purposes gives rise to difficult international law issues relating to the use of force. What is not straightforward is precisely how various aspects of these activities are to be regulated at the international level should they transcend outer space and result in armed conflict.

4 Domains of Warfare

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
McCosker Sarah
Keyword(s):  
Armed Conflict ◽  
Historical Development ◽  
Outer Space ◽  
Legal Regulation ◽  
International Humanitarian Law ◽  
Humanitarian Law ◽  
Military Necessity ◽  
Rules And Principles ◽  
Over Time

This chapter examines ‘domains’ of warfare, which are generally understood as the operational environments in which armed conflict occurs, and to which international humanitarian law (IHL) therefore applies. Until recent decades, domains of armed conflict have been largely predicated on geospatial conceptions, denoting the physical places where armed conflict has customarily occurred: land, sea, and air. General IHL applies across all these areas—including the fundamental principles of humanity, military necessity, and proportionality; restrictions or prohibitions of certain means and methods of warfare; and basic rules requiring humane treatment of persons and respect for civilians and civilian property. Over time, however, the particular exigencies of land, sea, and air warfare have led to the development of some specific IHL rules and principles tailored to each of those environments. Discussing domains of armed conflict therefore offers a window into the historical development of IHL. It shows how the emergence of new operational environments and new means and methods of armed conflict catalyses efforts at legal regulation, which can lead to the development of new domains or sub-sets of IHL. The chapter then considers how the idea of a domain might apply to armed conflict in outer space, and armed conflict involving cyber operations and other emerging capabilities.

scholarly journals International Environmental Protection in Armed Conflicts: Traditional Legal Regulation and Interpretation Novelties

Lex Russica ◽  
2021 ◽  
pp. 84-95
Author(s):  
N. A. Sokolova
Keyword(s):  
International Law ◽  
Environmental Protection ◽  
Natural Environment ◽  
Armed Conflict ◽  
Legal Protection ◽  
Legal Regulation ◽  
Armed Conflicts ◽  
International Humanitarian Law ◽  
Humanitarian Law ◽  
Wide Range

The paper is devoted to international legal protection of the environment during armed conflicts. The author emphasizes that armed conflicts, both international and non-international, continue to be one of the most serious threats to a healthy environment. An armed conflict taking place in the environment invariably poses a threat to ecosystems.The author summarizes that in international law there are special norms for the protection of natural environment during armed conflicts. At the same time, increasing the level of protection requires a clearer definition of the scope of application of customary law and the further development of treaty rules. While the objectives of protecting the natural environment are linked to the survival and protection of civilians, recognition of environmental protection during armed conflict as such constitutes an important trend. International law calls on States to enter into agreements that provide for additional protection of the natural environment during armed conflicts. The concept of “protecting the natural environment” in international humanitarian law refers to a wide range of obligations that can help protect the natural environment or its parts from damage. A high threshold for potential harm continues to pose the risk that such protection is not fully applicable in practice. There is an obvious tendency to use the potential of the principles of international environmental law when applying the norms of international humanitarian law. Thus, even in cases where the assessment of new means and methods of warfare does not provide scientific certainty with regard to their impact on the natural environment, this does not absolve the parties to the conflict from taking appropriate precautions. It is not enough that there are important rules of international humanitarian law protecting the natural environment during armed conflict; they need to be better disseminated, implemented and enforced, as well as validated and clarified.

Weapons and the Law of Armed Conflict

2016 ◽  
Author(s):  
Boothby William H
Keyword(s):  
International Law ◽  
Armed Conflict ◽  
Outer Space ◽  
Full Range ◽  
Armed Conflicts ◽  
Novel Technologies ◽  
Weapon Systems ◽  
Arms Trade ◽  
Logical Sequence ◽  
The Law

This book brings the legal rules governing the use of weapons in armed conflict together into a single volume and interprets and applies those principles and rules to particular weapons technologies. It is the essential reference book for anyone dealing or concerned with the international law applying to weaponry. After relating the historical evolution of weapons law, identifying its sources and discussing the important customary principles that are the foundation of the subject, the book explains to the reader in a logical sequence of chapters how treaty and customary rules apply to particular categories of weapon or to relevant technologies, both traditional and novel. Having explained to the reader how the existing law applies across the full range of weapons technologies, the book discusses how this dynamic field of international law may be expected to develop in the years ahead. This new edition tackles challenging weapons law issues such as the new treaty law on expanding bullets and on the arms trade, novel technologies in the fields of chemistry and biology, the topical controversies associated with autonomous and automated weapon systems, and how law applies to weapons in outer space and to cyber weapons. The law applicable in non-international armed conflicts is summarized; compliance and weapon reviews are carefully explained; and recent international and national military manuals, and other developments in the wider literature, are thoroughly reflected throughout the text.

Formation of a modern international legal concept for the exploration and use of outer space

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
A. Kapustin ◽  
V. Avhadeev ◽  
A. Golovina ◽  
A. Kashirkina ◽  
E. Kienko ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
International Law ◽  
International Cooperation ◽  
International Organizations ◽  
Space Exploration ◽  
Outer Space ◽  
Legal Regulation ◽  
Legal Concept ◽  
International Space ◽  
Space Law ◽  
Space Activities

The exploration and use of outer space, which began in the mid-twentieth century, led to the formation of international space law, designed to regulate the relations of States in this relatively new sphere of human activity. The undulating nature of the development of this branch of international law, for objective reasons, has led to the complication of international legal regulation of space activities. The dynamics of scientific and technological progress and the development of technologies in the space sphere exacerbates competition between space powers and international organizations, creates new challenges for international cooperation in space exploration and requires innovative legal solutions. The doctrine of international law is faced with the task of generalizing new problems and processes and developing conceptual models for the further development of international space law. The dynamics of the conceptual perception of international space law is traced, new theoretical approaches to the concept of the international legal status of outer space and individual regimes and concepts of its use in modern conditions are proposed. Taking into account the trends in the institutionalization of international space activities and the impact of economic integration processes on international cooperation in space, primarily in the Euro-Asian region, the role of international organizations in the international legal regulation of space activities and the harmonization of national legislation is analyzed. In addition, certain aspects of future space exploration are considered as a legal forecast. For researchers, teachers, postgraduates and students, civil servants and practicing lawyers, as well as for anyone interested in the problems of modern international law.

Neoclassical Realism in Japan’s Space Security

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Saadia M. Pekkanen
Keyword(s):  
International Law ◽  
Outer Space ◽  
World Order ◽  
Organizational Changes ◽  
Dual Use ◽  
Neoclassical Realism ◽  
Basic Space ◽  
Holistic Understanding ◽  
Space Law ◽  
Space Security

Japan’s space security commands attention as the country shifts toward internationalism in a world returned to great power competition. Using the framing from neoclassical realism, this article discusses the ways in which Japan has adjusted both its internal portfolio and its external postures to balance against perceived threats in outer space. While neoclassical realism is foundational for understanding what motivates, empowers, and constrains states in the space domain, the article also layers in the importance of international law to the conduct of statecraft within it. Doing so gives us a more holistic understanding of the material, legal, and normative evolution of Japan’s winding space trajectories. Although Japan’s Basic Space Law of 2008 is seen as a watershed event for legal and policy purposes, the law merely caught up with the extraordinary quality and range of Japan’s long-evolving dual-use space technologies. It is these autonomous foundations that empower Japan to pursue three distinct strategies in its interest—counterspace capabilities, organizational changes, and space diplomacy—with implications for both rivals and allies in a changed world order.

A Ghost in the Ivory Tower: Positivism and International Legal Regulation of Armed Opposition Groups

2016 ◽  
Vol 7 (1) ◽  
pp. 32-62 ◽  
Author(s):  
Astrid Kjeldgaard-Pedersen
Keyword(s):  
International Law ◽  
Armed Conflict ◽  
Legal Regulation ◽  
Current Debate ◽  
Legal Personality ◽  
Legal Obligations ◽  
The Law ◽  
Opposition Group ◽  
International Legal Personality ◽  
The Relationship

Why do scholars, who generally acknowledge the international legal personality of non-State entities, still question the bindingness of the law of non-international armed conflict on insurgents? This article examines the relationship between the two dominant positivist conceptions of international legal personality and the rights and obligations of insurgents as a matter of positive international law. First, the article illustrates that the evolution of the law of non-international armed conflict corroborates Hans Kelsen’s idea that the international legal personality of an entity, be it a State, an armed opposition group, or an individual, is solely contingent upon interpretation of international norms. Second, it shows that the traditional perception of States as exclusive subjects of international law – though never reflected in positive norms governing non-international armed conflict – continues to influence the current debate on the theoretical underpinnings for binding insurgents. The orthodox ‘States-only’ conception of international legal personality is seemingly so ingrained in the minds of contemporary international lawyers that they inadvertently rely on it when faced with international legal regulation of non-State entities. Finally, the article addresses the implications of these findings for the overall question of international legal obligations of non-State actors.

Space and National Security

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Joan Johnson-Freese
Keyword(s):  
International Law ◽  
Security Policy ◽  
Outer Space ◽  
Gulf War ◽  
Space Environment ◽  
Space Technology ◽  
Dual Use ◽  
Military Applications ◽  
Outer Space Treaty ◽  
The U.S

Space assets have provided the U.S. military a demonstrable edge against adversaries since the 1990–1991 Gulf War. Most space technology is dual-use, meaning it has both civil and military applications; this creates an ambiguity to know whether military applications are intended as offensive or defensive. This chapter examines four schools of thought on how to preserve U.S. space dominance, and what that realistically means, discussed within the context of issues related to dual-use technology, sustaining the space environment, and international law within which the schools have developed. The Outer Space Treaty of 1967 celebrated its fifty-year anniversary in 2017, making those legal considerations especially appropriate. Whether further legal, even ‘soft law” approaches to optimizing the U.S. use of space, or whether preparing for what some consider “inevitable” space war should prevail in guiding future U.S. space security policy is the question planners and analysts must address.

16 Maritime and Outer Space Weapons

2016 ◽  
Author(s):  
Boothby William H
Keyword(s):  
International Law ◽  
Armed Conflict ◽  
Outer Space ◽  
Law Of Armed Conflict ◽  
Outer Space Treaty ◽  
The Law ◽  
Space Weapons ◽  
The Uk

This chapter explores the law of armed conflict with regard to the weapons used in sea warfare. It addresses automatic contact mines, nuclear mines, submarines, missiles, and torpedoes. Relevant elements of the treaties of 1907, of instruments adopted in 1930 and 1936, of the writings of experts and in particular of the San Remo Manual and of the UK Manual are considered in relation to each class of weapon. A discrete section looks at weapons in outer space, noting the application of international law to outer space by virtue of article III of the Outer Space Treaty, and the important provisions of article IV of that treaty. The issues that a reviewer of an outer space weapon would need to consider are set forth in that section.

Conclusion

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kubo Mačák
Keyword(s):  
International Law ◽  
Armed Conflict ◽  
Legal Regulation ◽  
Armed Conflicts ◽  
Law Of Armed Conflict ◽  
The Law

This chapter presents the conclusions of the book. It summarizes the argument of the book and makes some general observations about the process and effects of internationalization of armed conflicts in international law. Specifically, the chapter builds on the preceding analysis to argue that the study stands for a specific understanding of the notion of internationalized armed conflicts, one that is subject to an extensive application of the law of armed conflict. It further highlights some of the gaps in the legal regulation that result from the particular features of internationalized conflicts. The chapter closes by sketching potential directions in which the law and practice may develop in order to address those lacunae.

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