The Law of Armed Conflict
International Humanitarian Law in War

This book introduces students to the essential questions of the law of armed conflict and international humanitarian law.

Gary D. Solis (Author)

9781108926935, Cambridge University Press

Paperback / softback, published 21 October 2021

850 pages
25.4 x 17.6 x 4 cm, 1.44 kg

'… the book deserves to reach a wide audience. Anyone interested in the legal aspects of how war is fought today should have this fine book on their bookshelf. The newly revised and updated third edition of this book is a masterpiece of scholarship, if for no other reason than that it focuses on the law of war conundrums that have arisen after and the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. No other text takes a comprehensive look at 'artificial intelligence' in weapons and the law involved, the lawfulness of cross-border attacks when in the pursuit of terrorists, and the controversial lawfulness of “security detention” after the end of hostilities. While principally designed as a textbook for a law of war course, its clarity and compelling use of historical and contemporary examples make The Law of Armed Conflict an invaluable reference for military historians, journalists, practitioners, and the public generally.' Fred L. Borch III, The Journal of Military History

Newly revised and updated, The Law of Armed Conflict, introduces students to the law of war in an age of terrorism. What law of armed conflict (LOAC) or its civilian counterpart, international humanitarian law (IHL), applies in a particular armed conflict? Are terrorists bound by that law? What constitutes a war crime? What (or who) is a lawful target and how are targeting decisions made? What are 'rules of engagement' and who formulates them? How can an autonomous weapon system be bound by the law of armed conflict? Why were the Guantánamo military commissions a failure? Featuring new chapters, this book takes students through these topics and more, employing real-world examples and legal opinions from the US and abroad. From Nuremberg to 9/11, from courts-martial to the US Supreme Court, from the nineteenth century to the twenty-first, the law of war is explained, interpreted, and applied with clarity and depth.

Foreword
Preface and acknowledgments
Table of cases
Table of treaties
1. Rules of war, laws of war
2. Codes, conventions, declarations, and regulations
3. Two world wars and their law of armed conflict results
4. Protocols and politics
5. Conflict status
6. Individual battlefield status
7. Law of armed conflict's core principles
8. What is a 'war crime'? 9. Obedience to orders, the first defense
10. Command responsibility
11. Ruses and perfidy
12. Rules of engagement
13. Targeting objects
14. Targeting combatants and others
15. A.I., Autonomous weapons, drones, and targeted killing
16. Torture
17. Cyber in the law of armed conflict
18. Attacks on cultural property
19. The 1980 certain conventional weapons convention
20. Gas, biological, chemical and nuclear weapons
21. Military commissions
22. Security detention and internment.

Subject Areas: International organisations & institutions [LBBU], International humanitarian law [LBBS], Armed conflict [JPWS], International relations [JPS], Military history [HBW]