Chapter

Armed conflicts, international law, and global security

Jakob Kellenberger

The Oxford handbook of the international law of global security

Oxford : Oxford University Press, 2021

p. 254-272

English

This chapter addresses the relationship between armed conflicts, international law, and global security. While today protracted non-international armed conflicts are the prevalent type of armed conflict, international armed conflicts seem likely to again become a major threat to global security in the future. This hypothesis is based, amongst other factors, on recent military confrontations involving a number of States in Syria, the Russian involvement in Crimea, US tensions with Iran and North Korea, and broader regional tensions in the South China Sea. The chapter provides an overview of the interrelation between armed conflicts and other threats to global security before looking at armed conflicts currently raging in various geographical regions of the world. It then considers the adequacy and effectiveness of the existing international regulatory framework governing armed conflicts in light of the broader challenges facing the contemporary world order.

• The Oxford handbook of the international law of global security / edited by Robin Geiss and Nils Melzer