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4 - Use of force

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  05 June 2012

David Armstrong ,
Theo Farrell  and
Hélène Lambert
David Armstrong
Affiliation:
University of Exeter
Theo Farrell
Affiliation:
King's College London
Hélène Lambert
Affiliation:
Brunel University
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Summary

The power of international law is severely tested when it comes to the use of force by states. The development of modern international law was spurred on by the quest to eliminate war from world politics. War in the industrial age promised to be more awful than ever before experienced by humankind. And indeed the two world wars of the twentieth century claimed countless millions of lives and left whole continents in tatters. Hence, the use of force was prohibited in the new United Nations system. This prohibition is further supported by a larger corpus of treaty and customary international law. The only exceptions permitted under the UN Charter are the use of force in self-defence, and when authorised by the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) for the purpose of protecting international peace and security. Notwithstanding this, states have continued to use force not in self-defence and without UNSC authorisation.

It is clear that law, in itself, is a poor restraint on the use of force by states. This is recognised in the realist lens by the emphasis placed on a functioning balance of power as a necessary enabler for international law to function. Viewed from a narrow perspective, therefore, international law is weak in the face of state power. But viewed more broadly, international law on the use of force clearly captures values in the international community and provides a discourse on the legitimacy of using force.

Type
Chapter
Information
International Law and International Relations , pp. 117 - 150
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2007

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References

Armstrong, David, Theo, Farrell and Bice, Maiguashca (eds.), Force and Legitimacy in World Politics, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2005. An interdisciplinary volume, with contributions from leading IL and IR scholars on the evolving nature and complex relationships of legitimacy, legality and force.Google Scholar
Byers, Michael, War Law: International Law and Armed Conflict, London: Atlantic Books, 2005. A highly readable introduction to the subject.Google Scholar
Desch, Michael. ‘It's kind to be cruel: the humanity of American realism’, Review of International Studies, 29, 3 (2003), 415–26. A strident statement of the realist position on the minimal role of norms and law in a world where the risks of conflict are ever-present.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Dinstein, Yoram, War, Aggression and Self-Defence, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1994. A standard reference work in the field.Google Scholar
Farrell, Theo, The Norms of War: Cultural Beliefs and Modern Conflict, Boulder, CO: Lynne Rienner, 2005. An interdisciplinary study on the normative fabric of force in the modern world.Google Scholar
Finnemore, Martha, The Purpose of Intervention: Changing Beliefs About the Use of Force, Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press, 2003. An important constructivist study on the erosion of the normative value of force in world politics.Google Scholar
Franck, Thomas M., Recourse to Force: State Action Against Threats and Armed Attacks, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2002. A provocative book, based on a series of lectures delivered at Cambridge, by a leading US liberal professor of international law.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gardam, Judith, Necessity, Proportionality and the Use of Force by States, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2004. A comprehensive analysis of these two key principles underpinning international law on use of force.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gray, Christine, International Law and the Use of Force, Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2001. A thorough and carefully argued book that provides a British perspective on the subject by a Cambridge professor of international law.Google Scholar
International Commission on Intervention and State Sovereignty (ICISS), The Responsibility to Protect, 2 vols., Ottawa, ON: International Development Research Centre, 2001, at www.iciss.ca/report-en.asp. A high-profile report making the case for humanitarian intervention through a thorough analysis of the political, military, ethical and legal dimensions of the subject.
Johnson, James Turner, Just War Tradition and the Restraint of War: A Moral and Historical Inquiry, Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1981. An accessible introduction by a leading scholar on the just war tradition.Google Scholar
Kritsiotis, Dino, ‘When states use armed force’, in Christian, Reus-Smit (ed.), The Politics of International Law, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2004. An exploration of the constitutive impact of international law – as a system of expression, identity, argument and persuasion – on the politics of use of force.Google Scholar
Neff, Stephen C., War and the Law of Nations: A General History, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2005. A highly readable history of war from the perspective of international law, ranging from the beginning of history to the present day.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
The, White House, The National Security Strategy of the United States of America, Washington DC, 2002, at www.whitehouse.gov/nsc/nss.html. Received much attention for making the US government's case for pre-emptive use of force (see Chapter 5).Google Scholar
Wheeler, Nicholas J., Saving Strangers: Humanitarian Intervention and International Society, Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2000. An important book, combining normative theory and multiple case study analysis, on the changing legitimacy of humanitarian intervention.Google Scholar

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