Cambridge Studies in International and Comparative Law: Series Number 35: Necessity, Proportionality and the Use of Force by States

There has been considerable debate in the international community as to the legality of the forceful actions in Kosovo in 1999, Afghanistan in 2002 and Iraq in 2003 under the United Nations Charter. There has been consensus, however, that the use of force in all these situations had to be both proportional and necessary. Against the background of these recent armed conflicts, this 2004 book offers the first comprehensive assessment of the twin requirements of proportionality and necessity as legal restraints on the forceful actions of States. It also provides a much-needed examination of the relationship between proportionality in the law on the use of force and international humanitarian law.

Acknowledgments; Table of cases; List of abbreviations; Preface; 1. The place of necessity and proportionality in restraints on the forceful actions of states; 2. Necessity, proportionality and the forceful actions of states prior to the adoption of the United Nations Charter in 1945; 3. Proportionality and combatants in modern international humanitarian law; 4. Proportionality and civilians in modern international humanitarian law; 5. Necessity, proportionality and the unilateral use of force in the era of the United Nations Charter; 6. Necessity, proportionality and the United Nations system: collective actions involving the use of force; Bibliography; Index.