«Lawfare» as mean to justify aggressive war: genesis of concept
Journal Title: Naukovyy Visnyk Dnipropetrovs'kogo Derzhavnogo Universytety Vnutrishnikh Sprav - Year 2018, Vol 0, Issue 0
Abstract
The article deals with today approaches to the definition of the concept of "lawfare" in foreign publications. The term "lawfare" is derived from "law" and "warfare". It is a component of hybrid wars and is being used through abuse of mostly international law to justify an aggressive war. According to foreign researchers examples of "lawfare" are numerous in interstate conflicts such as: Israeli-Palestinian wars, the situation in the South China Sea, legal claims for justifying religious wars, in particular the example of Islamic law, and finally, conflicts in the post-Soviet space, in particular the aggression of the Russian Federation against Ukraine. The author has made the following conclusion: the concept of "lawfare" differs from the concept of "law of war" (lat. "Jus in bellum"), which contains a whole range of international acts, starting with the Geneva Convention of 1864 and a series of Hague Conventions of different years. They establish certain legal framework for kinetic wars, in particular: the procedure for their announcement and termination, the rules for handling wounded and war prisoners, as well as prohibition of the use of certain types of weapons that cause incesseble suffering to humans, such as chemical, anti-personnel mines, etc. "Lawfare " is currently a component of modern hybrid wars, which, apart from the use of kinetic weapons, is widely used by the aggressor of other areas of influence on the enemy: trade-economic, informational as a component of humanitarian aggression (linguistic, historical and cultural). "Lawfare" is an innovation in inter-state conflicts characterized by increasing accessibility through the use and sometimes abuse of international law to supplement or replace military operations in order to weaken the enemy’s position in international organizations, and sometimes to have a devastating effect on its legal system.
Authors and Affiliations
Andriy Samotuga
Keywords
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- EP ID EP574768
- DOI 10.31733/2078-3566-2018-5-146-152
- Views 141
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