International Law And New Wars

Examines the difficulties in applying international law to recent armed conflicts known as 'new wars'.

This book analyses how existing international law limits the use of means of warfare utilising the properties of nanomaterials.

Teaches how and why states make, break, and uphold international law using accessible explanations and contemporary international issues.

“Professor Byers’s book goes to the heart of some of the most bitterly contested recent controversies about the International Rule of Law.” —Chris Patten, Chancellor of Oxford University International law governing the use of military force has been the subject of intense public debate. Under what conditions is it appropriate, or necessary, for a country to use force when diplomacy has failed? Michael Byers, a widely known world expert on international law, weighs these issues in War Law. Byers examines the history of armed conflict and international law through a series of case studies of past conflicts, ranging from the 1837 Caroline Incident to the abuse of detainees by US forces at Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq. Byers explores the legal controversies that surrounded the 1999 and 2001 interventions in Kosovo and Afghanistan and the 2003 war in Iraq; the development of international humanitarian law from the 1859 Battle of Solferino to the present; and the role of war crimes tribunals and the International Criminal Court. He also considers the unique influence of the United States in the evolution of this extremely controversial area of international law. War Law is neither a textbook nor a treatise, but a fascinating account of a highly controversial topic that is necessary reading for fans of military history and general readers alike. “Should be read, and pondered, by those who are seriously concerned with the legacy we will leave to future generations.” —Noam Chomsky

The essays contained in this volume deal both with the law concerning resort to force (jus ad bellum) and the law which regulates the conduct of hostilities once the decision to resort to force has been taken (jus in bello). The collection looks at Iraqi invasion of Kuwait in 1990 and shift towards the interpretation of decisions of the Security Council rather than the reliance on the law of self-defence in assessing the legality or illegality of a state's resort to force. Also addressed are questions of whether international law permits the pre-emptive use of force and humanitarian intervention. The collection also contributes to the debates surrounding the law on the conduct of hostilities (the laws of war, properly so called), including intense debate over whether nuclear weapons could ever lawfully be employed, whether there is a role for belligerent reprisals in modern international law, the system for the prosecution of war crimes and the duties of the belligerent occupant.

This timely new volume brings together experts on the laws of war from academia, the military, and the NGO community to examine the issues surrounding September 11th and its aftermath, which have raised fundamental challenges to the existing corpus of international humanitarian law. The book features a thoughtful overview and discussion of the extent to which "new wars" call for new laws. The authors analyze specific topics pertaining to this theme, including the definition of armed conflict, the identification of military objectives, the meaning and application of the principle of proportionality in contemporary conflicts, the legitimacy of "targeted killings," the treatment of individuals detained in non-traditional armed conflicts, and the contemporary application of the law of occupation. Specific highlights include: Lt. Col. William K. Lietzau, National Defense University and former Special Advisor to the General Counsel of the Department of Defense (DoD), on when to apply the law of war and when to apply a law enforcement paradigm; Yoram Dinstein, Stockton Professor of International Law at the U.S. Naval War College, on proportionality; Crimes of War website editor Anthony Dworkin on due process problems in the anti-terror campaign; Ken Watkin, Visiting Fellow in the Human Rights Program at Harvard Law School, on targeting and assassination; and much more. Published under the Transnational Publishers imprint.