Chapter

War and armed conflict : the parameters of enquiry

Dino Kritsiotis

Routledge handbook of the law of armed conflict

London ; New York : Routledge, 2016

p. 5-32 : diagr.

English

This chapter engages several preliminary, overarching or recurring themes that are related to the law of armed conflict. First, it investigates the relationship between the jus ad bellum and the jus in bello, providing a brief synopsis of the content of the jus ad bellum and what this means for the application of the jus in bello. It then considers the genealogy and structure of this law – of why, where and how it evolved in the first place – before outlining the developments that occurred after the Second World War which set down the foundations of the law of armed conflict as we know it today. The next section engages the provenances of the laws of armed conflict, and presents a particular appreciation of the projected relevance of the Geneva Conventions (and their Additional Protocols) from a reading of the treaties themselves: the dual infrastructure of international and non-international armed conflicts is explained, as is the possibility of belligerent occupation occurring within the context of international armed conflicts. Some consideration is also given to the diverse character of the law of armed conflict, that is, the nature of the propositions that are set forth and, in turn, the question of to whom such propositions are addressed.

• Full text (restricted access : ICRC)

• Routledge handbook of the law of armed conflict / Ed. by Rain Liivoja and Tim McCormack