Series

The Intelligence Community, Atrocities, and Accountability

The Intelligence Community, Atrocities, and Accountability

(Editor’s note: This article is part of a joint symposium hosted by Just Security and Articles of War. The symposium addresses topics discussed at a workshop held at The George Washington University Law School concerning U.S. cooperation with the International...

The United States Should Ratify the Rome Statute

The United States Should Ratify the Rome Statute

(Editor’s note: This article is part of a joint symposium hosted by Just Security and Articles of War. The symposium addresses topics discussed at a workshop held at The George Washington University Law School concerning U.S. cooperation with the International...

Laws of Yesterday’s Wars Symposium – Make War Sharp Again?

Laws of Yesterday’s Wars Symposium – Make War Sharp Again?

Editor’s note: The following post highlights a chapter that appears in Samuel White’s edited volumes Laws of Yesterday’s Wars published with Brill. For a general introduction to the series, see Samuel White and Professor Sean Watts’s introductory post. Francis Lieber...

Ukraine Symposium – The Law of Belligerent Occupation

Ukraine Symposium – The Law of Belligerent Occupation

The ongoing conflict in Ukraine has raised important and timely issues regarding the application, implementation, and enforcement of the law of armed conflict. Particularly relevant, is the law of occupation. Unfortunately, this discrete subset of the law of armed...

Ukraine One Year On – Defying the Odds

Ukraine One Year On – Defying the Odds

On 24 February 2023, one year has passed since Russia commenced its full-scale invasion of Ukraine. The past year has been filled with acts of aggression, war crimes, and continued atrocities. International humanitarian law (IHL) is one of the most profound and...

Prosecuting War Crimes Symposium – Evidentiary Challenges

Prosecuting War Crimes Symposium – Evidentiary Challenges

Editor’s note: The following post highlights a subject addressed at a Lieber Institute expert workshop focusing on Prosecuting War Crimes. For a general introduction to this symposium, see Professor Sean Watts and Jennifer Maddocks’s introductory post. The Commission...

Ukraine Symposium – A Wagner Group Fighter in Norway

Ukraine Symposium – A Wagner Group Fighter in Norway

In the early hours of Friday, January 13th, the alarm went off in a military border guard base in northern Norway. Someone had illegally crossed the border with Russia, and Norwegian conscripts were tasked to find the person. The intruder turned out to be a former...

Year in Review – 2022

Year in Review – 2022

2022 has been an unprecedented year for the law of armed conflict (LOAC) and for Articles of War. The full-scale international armed conflict that Russia has been waging against Ukraine since 24 February has spawned multiple LOAC issues. Meanwhile, Russia’s flagrant...

Responsible AI Symposium – Introduction

Responsible AI Symposium – Introduction

Artificial Intelligence (AI) is increasingly developed, deployed, and used for defense and military purposes. This offers opportunities yet also poses challenges regarding its governance and regulation. While diplomatic efforts have focused on regulating lethal...

Ukraine Symposium – Targeting Leadership

Ukraine Symposium – Targeting Leadership

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky recently spoke at length in Time magazine about assassination attempts against him. He indicated that Russian paratroopers had approached his location immediately after the invasion and that he heard nearby firefights from his...

Ukraine Symposium – Photos of the Dead

Ukraine Symposium – Photos of the Dead

As the death toll in the war between Russia and Ukraine climbs, the issue of how to properly treat the remains of dead soldiers has become a recurring theme (see, e.g., here and here). Some media reports claim, for example, that Ukrainian forces are publishing...

Ukraine Symposium – Lessons from Syria’s Ceasefires

Ukraine Symposium – Lessons from Syria’s Ceasefires

Ceasefires are generally seen by academics, policy makers, and military and political personnel as being humanitarian and positive, or at worst, benign. However, increasing research and first-hand experience shows that, in fact, the consequences of ceasefires are...