Yoram Dinstein`s seminal textbook is an essential guide to the legal issues of war and peace, armed attack and self-defence. This third edition incorporates new materials on the Kosovo air campaign, `humanitarian intervention`, recent Security Council resolutions, the latest pronouncements of the International Court of Justice and the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia. This comprehensive introduction to the legal issues surrounding war and self-defence continues to provide an indispensable tool for students and practitioners of international law, international relations and military studies.

Part I. The Legal Nature of War: 
1. What is war? 2. The course of war
Part II. The Illegality of War: 
3. An historical perspective of the legal status of war
4. The contemporary prohibition of the use of interstate force
5. The criminality of war of aggression
6. Controversial consequences of the change in the legal status of war
Part III. Exceptions to the Prohibition of the Use of Interstate Force: 
7. The concept of self-defence
8. The modality of individual self-defence
9. Collective self-defence
10. Collective security