Table Of ContentWhat Is War?
International Humanitarian Law Series
VOLUME 37
Editors-in-Chief
H.E. Judge Sir Christopher Greenwood
Professor Timothy L.H. McCormack
Editorial Advisory Board
Professor Georges Abi-Saab
H.E. Judge George H. Aldrich
Madame Justice Louise Arbour
Professor Ove Bring
Professor John Dugard
Professor Dr. Horst Fischer
Dr. Hans-Peter Gasser
H.E. Judge Geza Herczegh
Professor Frits Kalshoven
Professor Ruth Lapidoth
Professor Gabrielle Kirk McDonald
H.E. Judge Theodor Meron
Captain J. Ashley Roach
Professor Michael Schmitt
Professor Jiří Toman
The International Humanitarian Law Series is a series of monographs and edited
volumes which aims to promote scholarly analysis and discussion of both the theory
and practice of the international legal regulation of armed conflict.
The series explores substantive issues of International Humanitarian Law including,
– protection for victims of armed conflict and regulation of the means and meth-
ods of warfare
– questions of application of the various legal regimes for the conduct of armed
conflict
– issues relating to the implementation of International Humanitarian Law obli-
gations
– national and international approaches to the enforcement of the law and
– the interactions between International Humanitarian Law and other related
areas of international law such as Human Rights, Refugee Law, Arms Control
and Disarmament Law, and International Criminal Law.
The titles published in this series are listed at brill.nl/ihul
What Is War?
An Investigation in the Wake of 9/11
Edited by
Mary Ellen O’Connell
LEIDEN • BOSTON
2012
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
What is war? : an investigation in the wake of 9/11 / edited by Mary Ellen O’Connell.
p. cm. -- (International humanitarian law series)
Includes index.
ISBN 978-90-04-17234-0 (hardback : alk. paper) 1. War (International law) 2. War
(Philosophy) 3. Terrorism--Prevention--Law and legislation. 4. Politics and war. I.
O’Connell, Mary Ellen, 1958-
KZ6385.W48 2012
341.6--dc23
2012014079
issn 1389-6776
isbn 978 90 04 17234 0 (hardback)
isbn 978 90 47 42581 6 (e-book)
Copyright 2012 by Koninklijke Brill nv, Leiden, The Netherlands.
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Printed on acid-free paper.
We note with sadness the passing of two esteemed members of our Editorial
Advisory Board – Antonio Cassese (01 January 1937 - 21 October 2011) and
Leslie C Green (06 November 1920 - 27 November 2011). Antonio and Leslie
were outstanding scholars and enthusiastic supporters of the IHL Series and
both will be sorely missed.
Table of Contents
Preface xi
Acknowledgements xv
Contributors xvii
Part I Th e ILA Decision to Study the Meaning of “War” in
International Law 1
Chapter 1 Introduction: Defi ning Armed Confl ict in the Decade
after 9/11 3
Mary Ellen O’Connell
Chapter 2 Proposal to Study the Meaning of War in International
Law (May 2005) 13
ILA Committee on the Use of Force
Part II Background Papers for the Study: International Law (2006) 17
Chapter 3 International Law’s Changing Terms: “War” becomes
“Armed Confl ict” 19
Elzbieta Mikos-Skuza
Chapter 4 Th e Meaning of Armed Confl ict and the Jus ad Bellum 31
Jutta Brunnée
Chapter 5 Th e Concept of “Armed Confl ict” in International
Armed Confl ict 51
Masahiko Asada
Chapter 6 Th e Meaning of Armed Confl ict: Non-International
Armed Confl ict 69
Christine Gray
Chapter 7 Irregular Forces and Self-defense Under the UN Charter 97
James Gathii
viii Table of Contents
Chapter 8 United Nations Peacekeeping and the Meaning of
Armed Confl ict 109
Mary Ellen O’Connell and Ania Kritvus
Part III Background Papers for the Study: Beyond
International Law (2007) 119
A. Political Science 121
Chapter 9 Silence of the Laws? Conceptions of International
Relations and International Law in Hobbes, Kant, and
Locke 123
Michael Doyle and Geoff rey Carlson
Chapter 10 War, Crime, and Terrorism: Distinctions and Implications 141
John Mueller
B. Military and Military History 165
Chapter 11 Meaning of War 167
General Sir Michael Rose
Chapter 12 What Is War? 177
Jeremy Black
Chapter 13 History and War: Th e Grim Record of the Past 183
Williamson Murray
C. Journalism 195
Chapter 14 Th e Meaning of War 197
Pamela Constable
Chapter 15 Th e Semantics of 21st Century Warfare 201
James Gordon Meek
D. Ethics 209
Chapter 16 Th e Precariousness of Rules 211
Th omas Grassey
Chapter 17 2Th e Meaning of War: An Ethical Analysis of
Sanctions and Humanitarian Intervention 217
Gerard Powers
Table of Contents ix
Chapter 18 Uganda’s “War in the North”:
How Clashing Religious Views Created an Armed
Confl ict, How Reconciling Th em May End It 235
Todd Whitmore
E. Peace Research 249
Chapter 19 Th e Meaning of War 251
John Darby
Chapter 20 What’s in a War? Insights from a Confl ict Data Program 261
Peter Wallensteen
Part IV Th e ILA Reports on the Meaning of Armed Confl ict
in International Law (2008-10) 273
Chapter 21 Initial Report of the ILA Use of Force Committee on
the Defi nition of Armed Confl ict (2008) 275
Chapter 22 Defi ning Armed Confl ict, Th e Work of the ILA
Committee on the Use of Force (2005-2008) 307
Mary Ellen O’Connell
Chapter 23 Excerpts from a Memo by the Chair to the Committee
on Submitting the Final Report (June 2010) 315
Chapter 24 Th e ILA Use of Force Committee’s Final Report on the
Defi nition of Armed Confl ict in International Law
(August 2010) 319
Chapter 25 Report on the Adoption of the Committee’s Final
Report on the Defi nition of Armed Confl ict
(September 2010) 369
Mary Ellen O’Connell
Postscript 373
Appendix Al-Aulaqi v. Obama, Complaint 377
Al-Aulaqi v. Obama, Reply Memorandum 385
Exhibit A 433
Exhibit B 483
Index 487
