Law & Ethics of War

This seminar will critically examine the chief legal norms and ethical precepts that regulate war. We will focus on both the just war tradition and contemporary international law, which include the law governing recourse to force (jus ad bellum) and the conduct of hostilities (jus in bello). Ad bellum topics generally include (1) the U.N. Charter framework for collective force under Security Council auspices; (2) the inherent or natural right of self-defense codified in Article 51 of the Charter; (3) ad bellum necessity and proportionality constraints on resort to force; (4) the novel and persistent challenge to the traditional jus ad bellum posed by diverse non-state belligerents and private armies (e.g., rebels, gangs, transnational terrorist networks, etc.) operating in the world today, all waging war in a legal and geopolitical environment that differs tremendously from the interstate paradigm that animated the drafters of the Charter in 1945; and (5) the associated topics of a state’s alleged right to use force to rescue nationals taken hostage by or in a foreign state, humanitarian intervention, and the so-called responsibility to protect (R2P). Jus in bello topics deal with the legitimate means and methods of warfare. Specifically, we typically cover (6) non-combatant immunity; (7) military necessity, distinction, and proportionality (MNDP) principles; (8) perfidy, prohibited weapons, and other illegal means or methods of warfare; (9) cyberwar, autonomous weapons, drones, and weaponized artificial intelligence; (10) asymmetric warfare; and (11) supreme emergencies, that is, circumstances in which violating the letter of the law of war might be excused or justified. Current events will be woven into the curriculum from time to time. UPPER-CLASS WRITING REQUIREMENT:: With the instructor's permission, a limited number of students may satisfy the upper-class writing requirement. ** A student who fails to attend the initial meeting of a seminar, or to obtain permission to be absent from either the instructor or the Registrar, will be administratively dropped from the seminar.