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.
War Booty in the Modern Law of Armed Conflict
There is an often unnoticed lexical (and, by extension, substantive) controversy over the survival of war booty under the modern law of armed conflict. Most authors concede that this long-standing institution of the law of war has survived, albeit being severely...
Ukraine’s Attacks on Oil Infrastructure and the “War-Sustaining” Debate
On 16 June, Ukraine launched a drone strike on Russia’s Gazprom Neft Moscow Refinery, an oil processing facility that sources a third of the fuel supply for the Russian capital and its surrounding region. Two days later, Ukraine struck the refinery again with one of...
The ICJ Advisory Opinion on Climate Change and Cyber Operations – Part I: General International Law Considerations
In July 2025, the International Court of Justice (ICJ) issued its much-anticipated Climate Change advisory opinion. The opinion is worth reviewing for many reasons and raises a host of legal questions that have been addressed in various other fora. As an advisory...
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Volume 13
Volume 12
Volume 11
