At the crossroads of scholarship and practice
The Lieber Institute at West Point facilitates and contributes to the global dialogue on today’s most pressing and complex law of war issues. Through its research, publications, events and education, it strives to advance the understanding and maintain the primacy of law in today’s armed conflicts.
The Lieber Institute seeks to bridge the divide between legal scholarship and battlefield experience in the study of the law. It engages in innovative research and collaboration on multiple topics of legal study including targeting, detention, artificial intelligence, emerging technologies and war crimes accountability.
Researching Cutting-edge Issues.
Promoting Understanding.
Empowering Combat Leaders.
The “Aggregated” Accumulation of Events Doctrine: Three Operational Hypotheticals
Editors’ note: This post is based on the author’s forthcoming contribution to “What if in 2031” in a fall/winter publication at the NATO Defence College (Rome). The post’s hyperlinks connect readers to actual events that are analogous to those presented in its...
Surrender as a Weapon: Operational Paralysis and the Law of War
In the opening days of the Operation Desert Storm ground campaign, Iraqi Soldiers surrendered by the tens of thousands. They surrendered to armor, to infantry, and in one famous instance, to a remotely piloted drone hovering overhead. On one hand, the Iraqi prisoners...
Compliance by Design IV: LOAC in the European Defense Industry
Editors’ note: This is the ninth post in a series dedicated to Lethal Autonomous Weapons Systems (LAWS) and the questions of human oversight and legal accountability under international humanitarian law. Previous posts have focused on LAWS, China, Russia, the United...
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