Laws of Yesterday’s Wars Symposium – Introduction

Laws of Yesterday’s Wars Symposium – Introduction

by | Feb 9, 2026 | AoW Posts, Blog, History of LOAC, Law of Yesterday’s Wars Symposium

Laws of Yesterday’s Wars Symposium – Introduction The Laws of Yesterday’s Wars series began with what I assumed was an idle question, almost a thought experiment. While watching a dramatized Viking raid on television, I wondered whether the brutality on screen could...
Of Evolving Belligerent Occupation Law: Old “Hague” Occupation and New “Geneva” Occupation

Of Evolving Belligerent Occupation Law: Old “Hague” Occupation and New “Geneva” Occupation

by | Feb 2, 2026 | AoW Posts, Blog, Occupation

Of Evolving Belligerent Occupation Law: Old “Hague” Occupation and New “Geneva” Occupation For years, the legal status of so-called “functional occupation” was unclear in international humanitarian law (IHL) (see, e.g., this 2012 work by Zwanenburg, Bothe, and...
Gamifying War: Reward Incentives and “Outlawry” in Armed Conflict

Gamifying War: Reward Incentives and “Outlawry” in Armed Conflict

by | Jan 28, 2026 | AoW Posts, Blog, Law of Armed Conflict, Targeting

Gamifying War: Reward Incentives and “Outlawry” in Armed Conflict Both sides of the Ukraine-Russia conflict maintain incentive programs that reward soldiers for kills on the battlefield. Russia offers monetary bonuses for the destruction of enemy equipment, such as...
The Moral Disorder of Jus ad Bellum and Jus in Bello Purity

The Moral Disorder of Jus ad Bellum and Jus in Bello Purity

by | Jan 26, 2026 | AoW Posts, Blog, Law of Armed Conflict, Use of Force

The Moral Disorder of Jus ad Bellum and Jus in Bello Purity In my last post, I argued why the law of armed conflict (LOAC) does not require the absolute separation of jus in bello and jus ad bellum. I also identified how leading thinkers throughout history understood...
Of Open and Closed Systems – War Caught in Lotus and Anti-Lotus

Of Open and Closed Systems – War Caught in Lotus and Anti-Lotus

by | Jan 12, 2026 | AoW Posts, Blog, Law of Armed Conflict, Use of Force

Of Open and Closed Systems – War Caught in Lotus and Anti-Lotus Within every system of law there are open legal sub-systems that offer residual freedom to act and closed sub-systems where residual prohibitions prevail. In the first, the maxim is that what is not...