Armed Conflict • International Law
Use of Force
837 Articles

The Progress Not Made on Protecting Civilians
I was recently asked to reflect on the progress the United States has made on civilian protection after two decades of war and counterterrorism operations since 9/11. I got down…

Unprecedented Threats to Journalists & Civil Society Activists Are Threatening Afghanistan
Who benefits from the killing of journalists, human rights activists, and civil society members in Afghanistan? What purposes could it serve and for whom?

NATO and the Nuclear Weapons Ban Treaty: Options for the Biden Administration
Whether the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons becomes a problem for NATO is entirely up to the allies.

Military Families are Gunning for Peace this Holiday Season
I share my family’s story to underline the urgency behind avoiding war with Iran. We’ve become a nation that engages in wars of choice. We cannot continue down this current…

“Strategic Silence” and State-Sponsored Hacking: The US Gov’t and SolarWinds
The absence to date of executive branch attribution and condemnation of the SolarWinds intrusions may be strategic silence—a tactic employed in the immediate aftermath of past…

The Definition of Aggression and Self-Defense
Exactly forty-six years ago, on December 14, 1974, the United Nations General Assembly adopted, by consensus, the Definition of Aggression, “the most serious and dangerous form…

Biden Must Stick to His Pledge to End US Support for the Yemen War
The war in Yemen is a global mark of shame, and the resulting humanitarian disaster threatens the lives of 24 million people.

Human Shields and Proportionality: How Legal Experts Defended War Crimes in Sri Lanka
The Sri Lankan Civil War constitutes an unprecedented case in terms of the number of people who were framed as human shields and the mobilization of prominent human rights…

The Nagorno-Karabakh Conflict and the Exercise of “Self-Defense” to Recover Occupied Land
The fighting raised a fundamental but surprisingly overlooked question of international law on the use of force.

Finland Sets Out Key Positions on International Cyber Law
Analysis of the Government of Finland's new statement on international law in cyberspace.

What a Few Cakes Say About the US Drone Program
Fondant creations on cakes - yes cakes - provide a rare window into a largely closed culture of national security policymaking. Their creation in 2013, publication, and re-emergence…

Toward a New Approach to National and Human Security: End Unlawful, Secret, and Unaccountable Use of Lethal Force
A core component of post-9/11 counterterrorism policy has been the use of secretive and unaccountable killings of terrorism suspects. The killings must stop. Here's how the president…