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Dokdo/Takeshima And Maritime Delimitation Between The Republic Of Korea And Japan: A Comment On Icj Dispute Resolution, Katherine Angell

American University International Law Review

The Republic of Korea (Korea) should agree to submit the issue of sovereignty over Dokdo/Takeshima and the issue of maritime delimitation in the East Sea/Sea of Japan to the International Court of Justice (ICJ) because the ICJ is likely to decide that Dokdo/Takeshima is Korean territory and the tensions in the East Sea/Sea of Japan can be resolved to allow further cooperation between the two nations. The ICJ is the primary avenue for peacefully resolving territorial and maritime delimitation disputes between nations, and the ICJ has developed a substantial body of case law analyzing these issues. The ICJ considers various …

The Lives Of Fritz Haber And Of International Law: Entwined Tales Of Tragedy And Irony, Mark A. Drumbl, C. William Vardy

Scholarly Articles

This article recounts the life of international law through the story of a single individual. This is the narrative of biographical international law. The subject — equally protagonist and antagonist — of this article is Fritz Haber, a German-Jewish scientist born in 1868. Devoted to the Kaiser, Haber was declared a war criminal by the Allies following World War I for having been ‘the father’ of chemical warfare. Haber argued that chemical weapons were more humane than conventional weapons. While under this shadow, Haber also won the Nobel Prize for chemistry in 1920 for his pioneering work with ammonia …

Plea Bargaining In The United States Military, Frank Rosenblatt

Journal Articles

This article offers a primer on plea bargaining in the U.S. military justice system. American military justice is like criminal justice in the rest of the country in that the lion’s share of cases are plea bargained. But there are key differences between military and civilian plea bargaining. First, a central factor of negotiations in military plea bargaining is whether the accused will keep his or her job. Second, the military has a wider range of disposition options than traditional penal sanctions, including nonjudicial punishment and administrative sanctions. Finally, the military seemingly permits more discretion and offers less binding guidance …

Institutional And Procedural Aspects Of Military Justice, Frank Rosenblatt

Journal Articles

The U.S. military justice system exists to “promote justice, to deter misconduct, to facilitate appropriate accountability, to assist in maintaining good order and discipline in the armed forces, to promote efficiency and effectiveness in the military establishment, and thereby to strengthen the national security of the United States.” It provides for disciplinary and penal sanctions of U.S. military members anywhere in the world. Given the size of the U.S. military and the scope of its operations around the world, the military justice system plays a consequential role in accountability for core international crimes, also known as atrocity crimes. The U.S. …

Discipline And Punishment, Frank Rosenblatt

Journal Articles

Armed forces must be disciplined, but two bodies of international law relating to military discipline are in tension. On the one hand, international humanitarian law requires armed forces to employ robust disciplinary measures to deter and address military misconduct. On the other hand, some international human rights law scholars recently singled out military disciplinary measures as insufficiently protective of soldiers from unfair treatment. Advocates of this new approach proposed to remedy disciplinary unfairness by permitting soldiers to opt out of disciplinary proceedings and elect military criminal trials instead. This Article critically examines four of the underlying assumptions of this new …

The Birth Of Modern International Criminal Law: The International Military Tribunal At Nuremberg, Frank Rosenblatt

Journal Articles

The International Military Tribunal at Nuremberg (IMT), the most famous and arguably most important international criminal trial in human history, almost did not occur. In fact, it might even be an accident of history that the most senior perpetrators of the Nazi regime’s atrocities eventually faced the courtroom instead of summary execution. That their fate was decided by rights over might has shaped the world; helped birth the fields of international criminal law and international human rights law; and become the starting point for conversations about international law, transitional justice, genocide, and human rights.

The Justice For Victims Of War Crimes Act: A Dangerous Expansion Of Universal Jurisdiction To Non-International Armed Conflicts, Yuyan (Nicole) Zhang

Michigan Journal of International Law

Universal jurisdiction over war crimes committed in noninternational armed conflict (“NIACs”) has yet to develop a firm legal foundation under international law. The Justice for the Victims of War Crimes Act of 2023, however, amended the War Crimes Statute (18 U.S.C. § 2441) and extended universal jurisdiction to NIACs. This overreach risks infringing on the sovereignty of NIAC-affected states and destabilizing their ongoing peace processes. Many such states prioritize reconciliation through mechanisms like truth commissions over retributive justice through criminal trials. The prosecution of their nationals under U.S. law could undermine their sovereign decisions and unravel delicate efforts toward peace. …

The Futility Of “Genocide” In Ending A Genocide, Shannon Fyfe

Scholarly Articles

After the horrors of World War II, the Genocide Convention of 1948 sought to invest the international community in creating legal obligations that “sovereign” states commit to preventing and punishing future genocides. Unfortunately, this has not succeeded. International legal jurisprudence pertaining to identifying and punishing genocide has developed at the International Court of Justice and at other international criminal courts and tribunals. Yet the invocation of the term “genocide” in public, academic, or legal discourse has generally failed to ensure the participation of the international community in stopping a genocide. The United States, for instance, has failed to play the …

Toxic Exposure, Judy Ann Clausen

UF Law Faculty Publications

Service members are often exposed to toxins in service. When they file claims for disability compensation, they struggle to link their diseases to toxic exposure while serving. Congress stepped in to ease their burden by creating presumptions, relieving the veterans of the burden of proving a nexus between the exposure and their disease. In 2022, Congress enacted the PACT Act which expanded presumptive service connection for veterans whose service involved exposure to toxic substances. But, for veterans whose conditions do not fall within these presumptions, problems with the Department of Veterans Affairs (“VA”) benefits adjudication system make it difficult to …

Grown-Ups, Grown-Downs, And Pan-Generationality, In Parents, Children, And The Ripples Of Transitional Justice (Kirsten J. Fisher & Caitlin Mollica Eds., 2026), Mark A. Drumbl

Books and Chapters

Until one becomes a grown-up, one perhaps remains a ‘grown-down’. Indeed, a refrain among concerns that have been raised about demobilization programmes for former child soldiers is that they treat former child soldiers as grown-downs, often even as infants, notwithstanding the experiences of these young people in terms of fighting and foraging and fending and fleecing which, indeed, surpass the kinds of challenges that many grown-ups ever face. In the end, then, as Grace Akello has poignantly demonstrated, many decommissioned child soldiers remain grown-downs who end up going down paths on which they shift from armed conflict to drift into …

The Internet At War: An Empirical And Legal Analysis Of Harmful Narratives On Social Media During Armed Conflict, Bailey Ulbricht, Allen Weiner

Michigan Technology Law Review

This Article empirically investigates the connection between harmful narratives on social media and violent acts perpetrated against persons protected under international humanitarian law (IHL) during armed conflict, and then examines the legal implications of such a relationship. First, examining comprehensive datasets from two inter-state armed conflicts (Russia-Ukraine and Armenia-Azerbaijan) as case studies, this Article documents patterns in Telegram data indicating that more violent acts are preceded by increases in harmful narratives than decreases in such content. This suggests that harmful narratives on social media platforms may plausibly contribute to the incidence of real-world violence committed against protected persons during armed …

Enforcing International Humanitarian Law Through The Business Responsibility To Respect Human Rights, Tara Van Ho

Faculty Articles

Insulation produced by the Danish company Rockwool—or its Russian subsidiary—lines thirty-one Russian Navy warships. Though not a weapon, this material is essential to the vessels’ operation. Did Rockwool have a responsibility under international law to stop the transfer of the insulation to the Russian Navy before Russia’s 2022 invasion of Ukraine? This article examines the business responsibilities under the 2011 United Nations Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights (“UNGPs”). In doing so, the article finds that the business responsibility to respect human rights in the UNGPs provides a strong mechanism for enforcing international humanitarian law (“IHL”). However, it requires …

Dokdo/Takeshima And Maritime Delimitation Between The Republic Of Korea And Japan: A Comment On Icj Dispute Resolution, Katherine Angell

Celebrating WCL Student Authors

The Republic of Korea (Korea) should agree to submit the issue of sovereignty over Dokdo/Takeshima and the issue of maritime delimitation in the East Sea/Sea of Japan to the International Court of Justice (ICJ) because the ICJ is likely to decide that Dokdo/Takeshima is Korean territory and the tensions in the East Sea/Sea of Japan can be resolved to allow further cooperation between the two nations. The ICJ is the primary avenue for peacefully resolving territorial and maritime delimitation disputes between nations, and the ICJ has developed a substantial body of case law analyzing these issues. The ICJ considers various …

Escape Probability: Rethinking Wartime Protection Of Nuclear Facilities, Pearle M. Lipinski

Michigan Journal of International Law

The 2022 Russian attacks on the Chernobyl and Zaporizhzhia nuclear facilities in Ukraine shocked the international community. Claims that the attacks constituted war crimes immediately entered the public consciousness, and a flurry of opinions were set forth on the international humanitarian law (“IHL”) protections afforded to nuclear plants, focusing on Article 56 of Additional Protocol I of the Geneva Conventions, which provides special protection to nuclear electrical generating stations. These opinions primarily focused on the immediate applicability and shortcomings of Article 56 on the attacks at hand, often operating on the presumption that a massively consequential environmental and humanitarian disaster …

The Prohibition Of Force Is The First Principle Of International Humanitarian Law, Mary Ellen O'Connell

Journal Articles

This article tracks the decline of respect for the prohibition of force, IHL, and human rights law. At the same time, it will clarify the inter-relationship of the three bodies of international law relevant to armed conflict. The article also considers why presidents first began to “abandon peace.” The evidence indicates that a major reason involves the influence of realist political theory. Realism asserts that national security is attained by amassing and demonstrating superior military capability. A president who follows the theory will defy the law against the use of force. Following realism is also at odds with the empirical …

Nuclear Deterrence In The Age Of Hybrid Warfare, Chick Edmond

Political Science & Geography Faculty Publications

The main mechanism through which strategic stability can be preserved amongst nuclear armed states has traditionally been viewed as nuclear deterrence. Deterrence works on the premise that catastrophic consequences will cause rational restraint due to the fear of nuclear conflict. The proliferation of hybrid warfare (the coordinated use of conventional, cyber, informational, economic, and proxy instruments below the threshold of open war) has changed the strategic environment within which deterrence now operates. This research paper assesses whether nuclear deterrence is still effective in preventing escalation in an era marked by continuous grey zone competition amongst major powers. The paper also …

Land, Genocide, And Kintsugi In Namibia, Mark A. Drumbl, Shannon Fyfe

Scholarly Articles

The first German missionaries arrived in Namibia in the 1820s. German rule over Namibia officially began under Otto von Bismarck in 1884. Following a January 1904 uprising led by Herero chief Samuel Maharero against colonial rule, German officials ordered the extirpation of the Herero and Nama peoples. On 4 October 1904, German military commander General Lothar von Trotha issued a chilling extermination order (Vernichtungsbefehl) to his troops: "Every Herero, with or without a gun, with or without cattle, will be shot. I will no longer accept women and children, I will drive them back to their people or …

Rights On Paper, Violations In Practice: Israel, The U.S., And The Failure To Enforce Judicial Pro¬Tections And International Obligations In Cases Of Arbitrary Detentions, Anjali Narayanan

Human Rights Brief

Muhammad Srur, a 34-year-old father, en­dured small cells, restricted movement, minimal family visits, and limited access to legal counsel when detained by Israel. He was beaten during arrest and interrogation, and the food, medical care, and living conditions fell below international standards. Half a world away, Abu Zubaydah remains in extreme isolation at Guantánamo Bay, following secret CIA detention where he faced prolonged confinement, sleep deprivation, stress positions, and other forms of torture. These men will never meet. Yet, their situations reflect the same legal reality: both have been placed into categories designed to fall outside the full protections of …

Visible At Last: Legal Recognition Of Children Born Of War (Cbow) And The Case Of Bosnia And Herzegovina, Ajna Jusić, Gordana Subotić Ph.D.

Human Rights Brief

Children born of war (CBOW) — those conceived through conflict-related sexual violence— have long remained stigmatized, marginalized, and largely invisible in law and policy. Drawing on international scholarship and Bosnia and Herzegovina’s post-conflict experience, this Article examines the social, political, and legal mechanisms that sustain CBOW exclusion and traces the emergence of CBOW as a recognized category within contemporary international legal frameworks. Using Bosnia and Herzegovina as a case study, the Article argues that patriarchal norms, fragmented governance and legal structures, and decades of institutional silence have profoundly shaped CBOW lived experiences and access to rights. Furthermore, the Article assesses …

How The Sui Generis Principle Has Been Historically Abused In International Law: From The British To The Israelis, Ahmad Hamdan

Human Rights Brief

I. Introduction

For over a century, powerful actors have used a single Latin phrase, sui generis, as a shield to evade accountability under international law. Meaning “of its own kind,” this theory dictates that a situation is so unique that ordinary rules should not apply. In international law, sui generis typically refers to situations or entities that cannot easily be categorized under existing legal frameworks or conventions. Its use indicates that there is no directly applicable precedent and that, as a result, no legal principles apply; instead, the situation itself will set the precedent. While some researchers argue that …

Stability And Accountability In Nagorno-Karabakh And The Armenia-Azerbaijan Conflict, Callum Heath

Human Rights Brief

I. Introduction

On August 8, 2025, President Ilham Aliyev of Azerbaijan and Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan of Armenia were hosted at the White House by U.S. President Donald Trump to announce the Agreement on Establishment of Peace and Inter-State Relations (the Agreement) in a Joint Declaration. The Agreement sets out to end the decades-long conflict between Azerbaijan and Armenia over the Armenian ethnic enclave of Nagorno-Karabakh within Azerbaijan, and the Azerbaijani exclave of Nakhchivan, which is separated from the rest of Azerbaijan by Armenia. While the White House hails the Agreement as a “historic peace deal,” the reality is more …

“Necessary” Jurisdiction: Veterans’ Rights In Article Iii Courts, Dana Montalto

American University Law Review

U.S. veterans should possess the same access to courts as other Americans, but a misreading of a federal law has led many veterans to be denied an opportunity to assert their civil rights in any judicial forum. That law—38 U.S.C. § 511—grants exclusive jurisdiction over certain federal veterans benefits appeals to a specialized Article I court, the Court of Appeals for Veterans Claims. But federal judges and Department of Veterans Affairs leaders have mistakenly interpreted that grant of exclusive jurisdiction to also close the door to Article III courts, leading veterans’ meritorious claims of systemic discrimination and injustice to be …

The Proportionality Trap: Why Death Tolls In War Need Not Add Up Equally, Thane Rosenbaum

Touro Law Review

Imagine a war without battlefields. There are no uniforms. Civilians and combatants are indistinguishable. Homes, schools, hospitals, and religious buildings are used as command and communication centers, and for the warehousing of weapons. Apartment rooftops are launching pads; the civilians who live inside . . . human shields. There are over 300 miles of reinforced tunnels, all outfitted with weapons and passageways for terrorists to take hostages and travel freely. Beyond Proportionality examines Israel’s battles against Hamas and Hezbollah under the laws of war and concludes that its war time conduct was based on military necessity and fought justly. The …

The United States' Nuclear Deterrent Outlook: Strategies, Challenges, And Future Prospects, Jonathon L. Beening

Graduate Theses/Dissertations

This study contends that the United States cannot sustain a credible nuclear deterrent through the mid-21st century without modernizing its aging nuclear arsenal and revising its nuclear doctrine to address emerging technological, geopolitical, and strategic threats posed by both near-peer adversaries and non-state actors. Through an examination of deterrence theory, historical developments, current force posture, modernization initiatives, doctrinal debates, counterarguments, and prospective geopolitical scenarios, this research assesses the adequacy of existing policies in maintaining strategic stability. The analysis concludes that credible deterrence in the coming decades will require integrated modernization, doctrinal clarity, and strategic adaptability to face any future threat …

Drones And The Changing Character Of War, Erik A. Davis

The US Army War College Quarterly: Parameters

Cheap drones have transformed the character of war by creating a “mass effect” that challenges traditional principles of force concentration. Unlike commentary focused on offense-defense debates or ethics, this article explains how Jevons’s Paradox, the Red Queen Effect, and models like Lanchester’s Laws and Hughes’s Salvo Equations underpin this shift. Drawing on lessons from Ukraine, historical theory, and production trends, it explains why the production of cheap “precision mass” is expected to accelerate. For military and policy practitioners, the analysis offers urgent guidance for adapting tactics, procurement, and doctrine to a battlefield dominated by ubiquitous, low-cost drones—before adversaries exploit this …

Parameters Winter 2025-26, Usawc Press

The US Army War College Quarterly: Parameters

Welcome to the Winter 2025–26 issue of Parameters. We open with an In Focus commentary: “Responsibly Pursuing Generative Artificial Intelligence (GenAI) for the War Fighter” by A. Blair Wilcox and C. Anthony Pfaff. The issue also features two forums (Indo-Pacific Deterrence and Considerations for Modern Warfare) and the inaugural Strategic Competition Corner.

Security Implications Of The China-Russia-North Korea Triangle, Brian G. Carlson

The US Army War College Quarterly: Parameters

This article analyzes the evolving strategic dynamics within the China-Russia-North Korea triangle and their implications for global security. It argues that while the strengthened Russia–North Korea relationship poses risks for China’s global strategy and its major economic partnerships, for now, China also derives some benefits from these close ties and considers the risks to be manageable. Drawing on recent diplomatic developments, military cooperation, and regional responses, the article offers a nuanced assessment of how this alignment affects European and Indo-Pacific theaters. The analysis provides US policymakers with insight into the risks of opportunistic aggression and the strategic calculations driving these …

Book Reviews, Usawc Press

The US Army War College Quarterly: Parameters

No abstract provided.

Recurring Coups In The Sahel Region Likely To Strain U.S. Resources, Autumn Tewksbury, Anthony Zampino, Shay Dauphinais, Andrew Britland

James Madison Undergraduate Research Journal (JMURJ)

This client report examines recurring military coups in the Sahel region of Africa and the probability of implications for U.S. interests. We incorporated analysis of terrorist organizations, adversarial involvement in the region, and projected socioeconomic factors in the next three to five years. Our analysis indicates these factors could pose a direct threat to U.S. national security interests. Current U.S. policy prohibits aid distribution to coup governments, increasing the likelihood that Sahelian countries will turn to U.S. adversaries for economic support. An additional aspect to consider is the Sahel’s natural resources and economic opportunities. Our project utilizes in-depth research, geospatial …

How Armenia And Azerbaijan Are Lobbying For Influence In D.C., Gibran C. Boyce, Dawn Kikel

Capstones

In the wake of President Trump taking office, foreign government agencies and U.S.-based non-profits serving Armenian and Azerbaijani interests have been hiring lobbyists in Washington, D.C. as part of their concerted efforts to curry favor, gain influence, and seek policy changes that would benefit the rival post-Soviet nations.