International Law
Just Security offers expert analysis of international law and its role in addressing global challenges. Our coverage includes litigation in international and regional tribunals, the process of international law-making, analysis of compliance and accountability for international law violations–including international criminal justice, and challenges to the international legal order.
3,518 Articles
Syria and the Law of Humanitarian Intervention (Part I: Political Miscues and U.S. Law)
Crises are lived forward but understood backwards. While it is still too early to know how the Syria crisis of 2013 will end, we can start evaluating what precedents of law and…
Good Reasons May Exist to Close CIA Drone Program—But Claim that CIA Agents are “Unprivileged Belligerents” is Not One of Them
Senator John McCain has vowed to accelerate the effort to transition control of drone operations from the CIA to the Pentagon, and he will likely have support from top Senate Democrats.…
On Syria, The System Worked
President Barack Obama’s critics have been virtually unanimous in their condemnation of his decision to ask Congress for authorization to use military force against Syria. …
Will Syria Redefine the Just War?
The past month’s Syria debates have focused on issues of policy and morality, with international law a distant third. The nearly universal agreement that the moral issues matter…
Just War in Syria and the U.S. Intervention Syllogism
First, I would just like to note that I am honored to be a part of the founding team of the Just Security blog and look forward to engaging with colleagues and readers throughout…
First Drone Strike Victims Planning to Visit US: Will the US Keep Its Transparency Promises?
Next week – for the first time in the history of the US “targeted killing” drone program – alleged survivors of a drone strike and the family members of a deceased victim…
EU Law Meets a U.S. Army Deserter
A German Court considering the appeal of a U.S. soldier Andre Shepherd who sought asylum in Germany after deserting his Iraq bound unit in 2007, has made a preliminary reference…
The U.S.-Russia Agreement on Syrian Chemical Weapons: More Questions Than Answers
The Framework Agreement negotiated by the United States and the Russian Federation to bring Syria’s chemical weapons under international control seems like an elegant way out…
The Deeper Lesson from Terrorist Expatriation Proposals
[Note: The following post is derived from remarks prepared for last Friday’s symposium on “Citizenship, Immigration and National Security After 9/11,” sponsored by the Fordham…
Flip Flops?: The Conflict with Al Qaeda Is (Not) a War
Following the September 11 attacks in 2001, President George W. Bush justified several military actions on the ground that the United States was now in an armed conflict with Al…
Five Myths in the Debate about Cyber War
Between 2009 and 2013, a group of 20 public international law scholars and practitioners drafted the recently released Tallinn Manual on the International Law Applicable to Cyber…
Time to Retire the Military Commissions
Last Monday morning, as a military judge read each of the men accused of plotting the 9/11 terrorist attacks their rights to attend the hearings in their case, two of them objected.…