About this Course
Postgraduate Laws programme:
Master of Laws (LLM), Postgraduate Diploma and Postgraduate Certificate
Course outline (not yet available)
| International law of armed conflict and use of force |
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| Section A: Introduction to the law of armed conflict and the use of force |
| · The relationship between jus ad bellum and jus in bello in international relations |
| · Over-view of pre-UN Charter law on use of force |
| · The concept of just and unjust wars |
| · First legal limitations on the use of force |
| · The Hague peace conferences (1899-1907) |
| · The League of Nations Covenant |
| · The Kellogg-Briand Pact of 1928 |
| · UN Charter terminology: use of force, aggression, armed attack |
| Section B: The content of the principle of non-use of force |
| · UN Charter Article 2 (4) and the prohibition of force |
| · Use of force in self-defence |
| · UN Article 51 and customary law on self-defence |
| · Collective self-defence and collective security |
| · Use of force to protect nationals abroad |
| · The concept of intervention, including humanitarian intervention |
| · Terrorism, non-state groups and the use of force |
| · Collective security |
| · Peace-keeping by the United Nations and regional organisations |
| Section C: History, terminology and scope of humanitarian law |
| · Sources of the law |
| · International humanitarian law and other areas of international law |
| · Concept of war; non-international armed conflicts |
| · Combatants and prisoners of war |
| · Treatment of combatants |
| · Civilians and targets |
| · Methods and means of warfare |
| · Nuclear weapons |
| Section D: Other aspects of armed conflict and methods of enforcement |
| · The law of neutrality |
| · Belligerent occupation |
| · Occupied territories in the Middle East |
| · Naval warfare |
| · Enforcement and implementation |
| · War, crimes against humanity, and universal jurisdiction |
| · Belligerent reprisals |
| · National courts, the International Criminal Court and the enforcement of humanitarian law |
| · Other means of enforcement of humanitarian law: the International Fact Finding Commission / state responsibility |
| Sequence: Section A first, Section D last. |
| Textbooks: Christine Gray, International Law and the Use of Force 3rd ed (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2008), ISBN: 9780199239153 |
| Yoram Dinstein, The Conduct of Hostilities Under the Law of International Armed Conflict (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2004), ISBN: 9780521542272 |
| Adam Roberts and Richard Guelff, Documents on the Laws of War 3rd ed (Oxford: Oxford University Press 2000), ISBN: 9780198763901 |