Armed Conflict • International Law
Use of Force
936 Articles
Still Secret: Second Circuit Keeps More Drone Memos From the Public
Secret law has been anathema to our democracy since its Founding, but a federal appeals court just gave us more of it. Almost two centuries ago, James Madison wrote that “[a]…
Where Will the Law of Self-Defense Go From Here?
Friday’s horrific attacks in Paris have now prompted retaliatory French airstrikes on Raqqa in Syria. Given the emotions that have been stirred up, it may seem unnecessary to…
Challenges New Weapons and Humanitarian Assistance Present for International Law
Editor’s Note: This is the fourth post in a miniseries about the International Committee of the Red Cross’s newly released Report on International Humanitarian Law and the…
United States Intervention at the Meeting of the ICC’s Assembly of States Parties
The International Criminal Court’s Assembly of States Parties (ASP) is meeting this week in The Hague — its 14th session. On the agenda (and here) are a number of issues,…
France Maps out Its War Against the Islamic State
Editor’s note: This post also appears on the European Council on Foreign Relations website. France’s President François Hollande used a powerful and resonant piece of…
The Assassination Ban and Targeted Killings
In public speeches, administration officials have criticized the use of the word “assassination” to characterize targeted killings carried out by the United States. The administration’s…
The Imperative of a “Drone Court”
With the recent release of The Intercept’s Drone Papers, it is an apt time to revisit the imperative of creating a check on an executive branch exercising lethal force without…
Drone Disclosures, Official and Not
As readers of this blog already know, last week The Intercept published a series of fascinating stories about the US drone campaign. The stories, and the official documents that…
Precision Weapons, Mistakes, and the Need for Transparency
This post is the latest installment of our “Monday Reflections” feature, in which a different Just Security editor examines the big stories from the previous week or looks…
Was the Kunduz Strike a War Crime?
As reports poured in over the weekend that the United States bombed a Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) hospital in Kunduz, Afghanistan, killing at least 12 MSF staff members and…
UK’s Legal Rationale for Drone Strikes Differs Fundamentally From US Rationale
Much of the public commentary concerning the UK’s targeted strike in Syria against a British national who had joined ISIS (along with other individuals with him at the time)…
European Countries Are Edging Toward Their Own War on Terror
A version of this article first appeared on the European Council on Foreign Relations website. The United States looks less lonely in its use of drone strikes against terrorist…