Chapter

Living in the "new normal" : modern war, non-state actors, and the future of law

Christopher A. Ford

Rethinking the law of armed conflict in an age of terrorism

Lanham [etc.] : Lexington Books, 2012

p. 229-304

English

In many regards, the advent of modern irregular conflict - especially in its specifically counterterrorist (CT) incarnation - has indeed led to some growth in the power in the Executive Branch. But this has not occurred willy-nilly, or without attendant dynamics of bargained adjustment. Indeed, rather than being a process that could be likened to the swing of a pendulum back and forth between extremes, the intra-governmental dynamics of CT war and legality in the United States have looked more like a process of punctuated evolution. Expedient single-branch executive responses to crisis have been to some extent adjusted as the courts and Congress have stepped in - and as successive presidents have taken office - but there has been much more ratification than retrenchements in these respects, and more continuity than change in CT policy since the first phase of the U.S. response after 9/11.

• Rethinking the law of armed conflict in an age of terrorism / Christopher A. Ford and Amichai Cohen