To examine the way in which the use of force is regulated under international law, under both conventional and customary law.

To examine the development of legal rules on the use of force under traditional international law, under Conventions such as the Kellogg-Briand Pact and the United Nations Charter and through State practice.

To examine the use of force in specific circumstances, such as humanitarian intervention, wars of national liberation, terrorism, peace enforcement etc.

An appreciation of the legal regulation of the use of force.

An understanding of the role of international law in the maintenance of international peace and security and the prohibition of the use of force.

An appreciation of specific instances of the use of force such as humanitarian intervention and their legal implications.

The restraint on the use of force in early societies and the development of the Just War doctrine.

The development of the rules of traditional international law on the use of force, e.g. the recognition of rebellion, insurgency and belligerency.

The Conventional restraint on the use of force pre-1945, e.g. The Covenant of the League of Nations, the Kellogg-Briand etc.

The prohibition of the use of force in the UN Charter; Article 2(4). The exceptions to Article 2(4) - self-defence (Article 51) and Chapter VII peace-enforcement actions.

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• Arend & Beck, International Law and the Use of Force , Routledge, London & New York, 1993.
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• Brierly, Law of Nations , 6 th ed., Clarendon Press, Oxford, 1967
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• Cassese, International Criminal Law , Oxford University Press, Oxford, 2003
• Cassese, International Law , Oxford University Press, Oxford, 2001
• Claude, Swords into Ploughshares , 4 th ed., McGraw-Hill Inc, New York, 1984
• Dinstein, War Aggression and Self-Defence , 3rd ed., Cambridge University Press, UK, 2001
• Dinstein, War Crimes in international law , Martinus Nijhoff Publishers, The Hague, London, 1996
• Findlay, The use of force in UN peace operations , Oxford University Press, New York, 2002
• Franck, Recourse to Force , Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 2002
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• Kalshoven, Constraints on the Waging of War , ICRC, Geneva, 1987.
• Roberts & Guelff, Documents on the Laws of War , 3 rd ed., Oxford University Press, Oxford, 2000
• Sands, Bowett''s Law of International Institutions , 5 th ed., Sweet & Maxwell, London, 2001
• Simma, The Charter of the UN: A Commentary, Vols.1 & 2 , Oxford University Press, Oxford, 2002
• Swinarski (ed.), Studies and Essays in International Humanitarian Law and Red Cross Principles in honour of Jean Pictet , Martinus Nijhoff, Geneva, 1984
• Teson, Humanitarian Intervention: an inquiry into law and morality , Transnational, New York, 1997
• Walzer, Just and Unjust Wars , 3 rd ed., Basic Books, New York, 2000
• White, Keeping the Peace: The UN and the Maintenance of International Peace and Security , Manchester University Press, Manchester, 1997
• Wilson, International Law and the Use of Force by National Liberation Movements , Clarendon Press, Oxford, 1988

Masters in International Relations.
MA Globalisation
MA in International Security and Conflict Studies