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 Sack of Cities: Laws of War and Evolving Attitudes in Historical Perspective
Throughout most of Western history, stretching back to the Homeric tradition of Troy, the right to sack a besieged city that refused to surrender was part and parcel of the customary laws of siege warfare. Under this law of war, cities and towns continued to be sacked...
Statehood in Conflict Classification: Revisiting Recognition in Contemporary IHL
After more than a decade since the unilateral declaration of independence of Kosovo and the independence and admission of South Sudan into the United Nations, there has been another rise in the practice of recognition of statehood, chiefly in response to the Gaza War,...
Dual-Use Objects and Dual-Purpose Attacks
Editors’ note: This post highlights work in the author’s recent chapter, “Objective and Subjective Tests for Determining Violations of the Law of Targeting: The Unreasonable Commander and the Guilty Mind,” appearing in Volume 27 of the Yearbook of International...
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Volume 13
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