Military, War, and Peace Commons^™

The Covert Use Of Drones: How Secrecy Undermines Oversight And Accountability, Milena Sterio

Law Faculty Articles and Essays

Under the Obama Administration, the number of drone strikes has sharply increased, prompting criticism and concern. As one commentator has noted, “[u]nder Obama, drone strikes have become too frequent, too unilateral, and too much associated with the heavy-handed use of American power.” Many scholars have focused on the legal issues arising from the use of drones, analyzing their legality under applicable law of self-defense, as well as under international humanitarian law and international human rights law.

This Article highlights another problematic aspect of the current American use of drones, which is secrecy. As will be argued below, because a large …

Technology And The Law On The Use Of Force: New Security Challenges In The Twenty-First Century, By Jackson Maogoto, Asaf Lubin

Articles by Maurer Faculty

Review of:

Technology and the Law on the Use of Force: New Security Challenges in the Twenty-First Century. By Jackson Maogoto. Oxford, UK: Routledge, 2015. Pp xviii, 111. Price: $117.71 (Hardcover).

Clearing The Path: The Perils Of Positing Civil Society In Conflict And Transition, Timothy W. Waters

Articles by Maurer Faculty

Can there be a general theoretical perspective on civil society's involvement in transitional justice? This article considers this question in its application to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Within the study of transitional justice and conflict resolution, civil society - a notoriously plastic concept - can be understood narrowly as rights-oriented groups working “for” peace, but the term is equally available to describe a broader array of communities that can either promote or prevent peace and justice.

It is, in fact, quite difficult to sustain a theoretical distinction between them, because transitional justice does not escape the dictates of politics - of …

The “Space Side” To “Harmful Interference”—Evaluating Regulatory Instruments In Addressing Interference Issues In The Context Of Satellite Communications, Frans G. Von Der Dunk

Space, Cyber, and Telecommunications Law Program: Faculty Publications

Interference issues in the context of satellite communications can, in principle, be tackled with legal means from a variety of angles, due to the multifaceted character of both interference and satellite communications as a sector. From that perspective, the present contribution addresses the most important regulatory instruments available to address the particular aspects of satellite communications related to their usage of outer space, and represents a first summary effort to evaluate their particular scope, approach, and general effectiveness.

Closing Plenary: Preventing Torture In The Fight Against Terrorism, Claudio Grossman

Scholarly Articles in Law Reviews & Journals

No abstract provided.

Self-Interest Or Self-Inflicted? How The United States Charges Its Service Members For Violating The Laws Of War, Chris Jenks

Faculty Journal Articles and Book Chapters

This chapter explores the aspects of self-interest implicated by the US military prosecuting its own service members who violate the laws of war under different criminal charges than it prosecutes enemy belligerents who commit substantially similar offences. The chapter briefly explains how the US asserts criminal jurisdiction over its service members before turning to how the US military reports violations of the laws of war. It then sets out the US methodology for charging such violations as applied to its service members, and compares this methodology to that applied to those tried by military commissions. The chapter then discusses the …

Combating Terrorism And Violent Extremism In Nigeria: Defining A New Approach To Winning Modern Jihadist Conflict, Steven E. Hendrix

The International Lawyer

No abstract provided.

Defensive Force Against Non-State Actors: The State Of Play, Monica Hakimi

Faculty Scholarship

On September 22, 2014, a U.S.-led coalition began airstrikes against the so-called Islamic State in Syria. At the same time, the United States started targeting the Khorasan group in Syria. These two operations raise (again) the question of when States may use defensive force against non-State actors in other States. The text of the United Nations Charter does not resolve the question. Article 2(4) prohibits States from using force “against the territorial integrity or political independence of any State, or in any other manner inconsistent with the Purposes of the United Nations.” Article 51 then recognizes “the inherent right to …

Book Review: Analyzing The Effectiveness Of The Tallinn Manual’S Jus Ad Bellum Doctrine On Cyberconflict,: A Nato-Centric Approach, Terence Check

Cleveland State Law Review

Review of: Tallinn Manual on the International Law Applicable to Cyber Warfare, Michael Schmitt, ed., New York: Cambridge University Press, 2013.

Taking The Measure Of Nations: Testing The Global Norm Of Territorial Integrity, Timothy W. Waters

Articles by Maurer Faculty

No abstract provided.

Effective Exercise Of ‘In-Space Jurisdiction’: The Us Approach And The Problems It Is Facing, Frans G. Von Der Dunk

Space, Cyber, and Telecommunications Law Program: Faculty Publications

As mankind moves closer to the fiftieth anniversary of the conclusion of the Outer Space Treaty, the framework international treaty laying down the baseline regime for space activities, it may be considered a major achievement that the treaty, as well as some of its offspring—notably the Rescue Agreement, Liability Convention, and Registration Convention—seem to be as relevant as ever. This is a major feat in an international era of many fundamental changes in the geopolitical, economic, and social context.

Nevertheless, the increasing involvement of private entities in many fields of space activity beyond the (by now) more “traditional” ones of …

Arendt On The Crime Of Crimes, David Luban

Georgetown Law Faculty Publications and Other Works

Genocide–-the intentional destruction of groups “as such”–-is sometimes called the “crime of crimes,” but explaining what makes it the crime of crimes is no easy task. Why are groups important over and above the individuals who make them up? Hannah Arendt tried to explain the uniqueness of genocide, but the claim of this paper is that she failed. The claim is simple, but the reasons cut deep.

Genocide, in Arendt’s view, “is an attack upon human diversity as such.” So far so good; but it is hard to square with Arendt’s highly individualistic conception of human diversity, which in her …

Human Rights Thinking And The Laws Of War, David Luban

Georgetown Law Faculty Publications and Other Works

In a significant early case, the ICTY commented: “The essence of the whole corpus of international humanitarian law as well as human rights law lies in the protection of the human dignity of every person…. The general principle of respect for human dignity is . . . the very raison d'être of international humanitarian law and human rights law.”

Is it true that international humanitarian law and international human rights law share the same “essence,” and that essence is the general principle of respect for human dignity? Is it true that, in the words of Charles Beitz, humanitarian law is …

Defining And Punishing Offenses Under Treaties, Sarah H. Cleveland, William S. Dodge

Faculty Scholarship

One of the principal aims of the U.S. Constitution was to give the federal government authority to comply with its international legal commitments. The scope of Congress's constitutional authority to implement treaties has recently received particular attention. In Bond v. United States, the Court avoided the constitutional questions by construing a statute to respect federalism, but these questions are unlikely to go away. This Article contributes to the ongoing debate by identifying the Offenses Clause as an additional source of Congress's constitutional authority to implement certain treaty commitments. Past scholarship has assumed that the Article I power to "define …

Contemporary Practice Of The United States Relating To International Law, January 2015, Kristina Daugirdas, Julian Davis Mortenson

Articles

In this section: United States Objects to Russia’s Continued Violations of Ukraine’s Territorial Sovereignty, Including by Convoys Purporting to Provide Humanitarian Aid • United States and Afghanistan Sign Bilateral Security Agreement • United States Announces “Changes and Confirmations” in Its Interpretation of the UNConvention Against Torture • United States and China Make Joint Announcement to Reduce Greenhouse Gas Emissions, Bolstering Multilateral Climate Change Negotiations • United States Deepens Its Engagement with ISIL Conflict • NATO Affirms that Cyber Attacks May Trigger Collective Defense Obligations

The Just War Tradition And International Law Against War: The Myth Of Discordant Doctrines, Mary Ellen O'Connell

Journal Articles

The international law regulating resort to armed force, still known by the Latin phrase, the jus ad bellum, forms a principal substantive subfield of international law, along with human rights law, international environmental law, and international economic law. Among theologians, philosophers, and political scientists, just war theory is a major topic of study. Nevertheless, only a minority of scholars and practitioners know both jus ad bellum and just war theory well. Lack of knowledge has led to the erroneous view that the two areas are in conflict. This article responds to this misapprehension, explaining the deep compatibility of international law …

Minelaying And The Impediment Of Passage Rights, Wolff Heintschel Von Heinegg

International Law Studies

Since their first extensive use in the 1904–05 Russo-Japanese War naval mines have continued to pose a considerable threat to innocent shipping. States reacted by adopting the 1907 Hague Convention VIII, which has been the only international instrument on the matter to date. In view of the fact that more than 80 percent of imports and exports are shipped by sea, freedom of navigation and, in particular, transit and archipelagic sea lanes passage rights must be preserved to the greatest extent possible. The present article deals with the question of whether international rules and principles provide effective protection of international …

Civilian Starvation And Relief During Armed Conflict: The Modern Humanitarian Law, Charles A. Allen

Georgia Journal of International & Comparative Law

No abstract provided.

The Role Of The Security Council In World Affairs, Crispin Tickell

Georgia Journal of International & Comparative Law

No abstract provided.

The Ssci Report And Its Critics: Torturing Efficacy, Peter Margulies

Law Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.

Unmanned Aerial Vehicles: Legitimate Weapon Systems Or Unlawful Angels Of Death?, Michael J. Deegan

Pace International Law Review

Since the invasion of Afghanistan, the United States has utilized Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) to locate, surveil and kill members of the Taliban, Al-Qaeda and its associated forces. Such killings have decimated the leadership of these groups and disrupted their operations. However, there are collateral effects from UAV killings including civilian deaths. These deaths increase resentment and hatred toward the US, which is channeled by terrorist groups to recruit new members and for local support. Moreover, targeted killings outside a combat zone have political and diplomatic consequences. This paper argues that the current uses of UAV are legal under international …

Genocide Treaty - Ethnic Cleansing - Substantive And Procedural Hurdles In The Application Of The Genocide Convention To Alleged Crimes In The Former Yugoslavia, John Webb

Georgia Journal of International & Comparative Law

No abstract provided.

Bosnia-Herzegovina--Vance-Owen Agenda For A Peaceful Settlement: Did The U.N. Do Too Little, Too Late, To Support This Endeavor?, Amy L. King

Georgia Journal of International & Comparative Law

No abstract provided.

The Security Council Comes Of Age: An Analysis Of The International Legal Response To The Iraqi Invasion Of Kuwait, Christopher John Sabec

Georgia Journal of International & Comparative Law

No abstract provided.

China's Nine-Dashed Map: Maritime Source Of Geopolitical Tension, Bert Chapman

Libraries Faculty and Staff Scholarship and Research

The South China Sea (SCS) is becoming an increasingly contentious source of geopolitical tension due to its significance as an international trade route, possessor of potentially significant oil and natural gas resources, China’s increasing diplomatic and military assertiveness, and the U.S.’ recent and ongoing Pacific Pivot strategy. Countries as varied as China, Taiwan, the Philippines, Indonesia and other adjacent countries have claims on this region’s islands and natural resources. China has been particularly assertive in asserting its SCS claims by creating a nine-dash line map claiming to give it de facto maritime control over this entire region without regard to …

Sweden - Application For European Community Membership - Sweden Fears Loss Of Policy Of Neutrality With Community Membership, Penny-Marie Kartos

Georgia Journal of International & Comparative Law

No abstract provided.

Successor States - Property Rights - Russia And Ukraine Agree To Share Control Of The Former Soviet Union's Black Sea Fleet, Kendall Butterworth

Georgia Journal of International & Comparative Law

No abstract provided.

Targeting “Islamic State” Oil Facilities, Kenneth Watkin

International Law Studies

In September 2014 the United States and Coalition partners conducted aerial attacks against several Islamic State-operated modular oil refineries in Syria. The Pentagon’s rationale is that the refineries provided fuel for Islamic State operations, money to finance continued attacks and constituted an economic asset to support future operations. Attacking the oil production facilities to stop the sale of smuggled oil, the proceeds of which “fuel” Islamic State activities is potentially controversial. Additional Protocol I limits attacks to those objects that “make an effective contribution to military action.” The U.S. position is that “war-sustaining objects” may also be lawfully targeted, thus …

Mercenaries And International Law, Marie-France Major

Georgia Journal of International & Comparative Law

No abstract provided.

Eco-Terrorist Acts During The Persian Gulf War: Is International Law Sufficient To Hold Iraq Liable?, Laura Edgerton

Georgia Journal of International & Comparative Law

No abstract provided.