International Law on the Use of Force

 

This module looks at the principles and laws governing unilateral and multilateral resort to force by states under the United Nations Charter and in customary international law. It will trace the legislative history of the law prohibiting the use of force through to its modern formulation in Article 2 (4) of the 1945 United Nations Charter. Instances where force is permissible in law – such as the right of individual and collective self-defence (guaranteed by Article 51 of the United Nations Charter) will then be considered.

Controversial claims to the use of force – such as reprisal action – are an unmistakable feature of international relations and occasional case studies will be made to allow for a critical analysis of such uses of force and their status in international law.

The principle of non-intervention will then come under examination, as well as the claims that are made by states to exceptions of this rule: typical examples include the right of counter-intervention and the right of humanitarian intervention. With a wealth of recent state practice, this option promises to offer a dynamic legal outlook to such practice and to the significance which this practice has had in the development of the law on the use of force.

Image courtesy of the UN.