Jens David Ohlin

Kevin Govern

Claire Finkelstein

Cyber weapons and cyber warfare have become one of the most dangerous innovations of recent years, and a significant threat to national security. Cyber weapons can imperil economic, political, and military systems by a single act, or by multifaceted orders of effect, with wide-ranging potential consequences. Unlike past forms of warfare circumscribed by centuries of just war tradition and Law of Armed Conflict prohibitions, cyber warfare occupies a particularly ambiguous status in the conventions of the laws of war. Furthermore, cyber attacks put immense pressure on conventional notions of sovereignty, and the moral and legal doctrines that were developed to regulate them. This book, written by an unrivalled set of experts, assists in proactively addressing the ethical and legal issues that surround cyber warfare by considering, first, whether the Laws of Armed Conflict apply to cyberspace just as they do to traditional warfare, and second, the ethical position of cyber warfare against the background of our generally recognized moral traditions in armed conflict. The book explores these moral and legal issues in three categories. First, it addresses foundational questions regarding cyber attacks. What are they and what does it mean to talk about a cyber war? The book presents alternative views concerning whether the laws of war should apply, or whether transnational criminal law or some other peacetime framework is more appropriate, or if there is a tipping point that enables the laws of war to be used. Secondly, it examines the key principles of jus in bello to determine how they might be applied to cyber-conflicts, in particular those of proportionality and necessity. It also investigates the distinction between civilian and combatant in this context, and studies the level of causation necessary to elicit a response, looking at the notion of a 'proximate cause'. Finally, it analyzes the specific operational realities implicated by particular regulatory regimes. This book is unmissable reading for anyone interested in the impact of cyber warfare on international law and the laws of war.

Law and Ethics for Virtual Conflicts

Cyber War

George P. Fletcher

In Defending Humanity, internationally acclaimed legal scholar George P. Fletcher and Jens David Ohlin, a leading expert on international criminal law, tackle one of the most important and controversial questions of our time: When is war justified? When a nation is attacked, few would deny that it has the right to respond with force. But what about preemptive and preventive wars, or crossing another state's border to stop genocide? Was Israel justified in initiating the Six Day War, and was NATO's intervention in Kosovo legal? What about the U.S. invasion of Iraq? In their provocative book, Fletcher and Ohlin offer a groundbreaking theory on the legality of war with clear guidelines for evaluating these interventions. The authors argue that much of the confusion on the subject stems from a persistent misunderstanding of the United Nations Charter. The Charter appears to be very clear on the use of military force: it is only allowed when authorized by the Security Council or in self-defense. Unfortunately, this has led to the problem of justifying force when the Security Council refuses to act or when self-defense is thought not to apply--and to the difficult dilemma of declaring such interventions illegal or ignoring the UN Charter altogether. Fletcher and Ohlin suggest that the answer lies in going back to the domestic criminal law concepts upon which the UN Charter was originally based, in particular, the concept of "legitimate defense," which encompasses not only self-defense but defense of others. Lost in the English-language version of the Charter but a vital part of the French and other non-English versions, the concept of legitimate defense will enable political leaders, courts, and scholars to see the solid basis under international law for states to intervene with force--not just to protect themselves against an imminent attack but also to defend other national groups.

When Force is Justified and Why

Defending Humanity

Andrew Altman

The controversy surrounding targeted killings represents a crisis of conscience for policymakers, lawyers and philosophers grappling with the moral and legal limits of the war on terror. This text examines the legal and philosophical issues raised by government efforts to target suspected terrorists.

Law and Morality in an Asymmetrical World

Targeted Killings

Jai Galliott

Duncan MacIntosh

The question of whether new rules or regulations are required to govern, restrict, or even prohibit the use of autonomous weapon systems has been the subject of debate for the better part of a decade. Despite the claims of advocacy groups, the way ahead remains unclear since the international community has yet to agree on a specific definition of Lethal Autonomous Weapon Systems and the great powers have largely refused to support an effective ban. In this vacuum, the public has been presented with a heavily one-sided view of Killer Robots. This volume presents a more nuanced approach to autonomous weapon systems that recognizes the need to progress beyond a discourse framed by the Terminator and HAL 9000. Re-shaping the discussion around this emerging military innovation requires a new line of thought and a willingness to challenge the orthodoxy. Lethal Autonomous Weapons focuses on exploring the moral and legal issues associated with the design, development and deployment of lethal autonomous weapons. In this volume, we bring together some of the most prominent academics and academic-practitioners in the lethal autonomous weapons space and seek to return some balance to the debate. As part of this effort, we recognize that society needs to invest in hard conversations that tackle the ethics, morality, and law of these new digital technologies and understand the human role in their creation and operation.

Re-Examining the Law and Ethics of Robotic Warfare

Lethal Autonomous Weapons

Why comply with international law when there is no world government to enforce it? Jens David Ohlin provides an alternate vision of international law based on a truly innovative theory of human rationality. Rationality requires that agents follow through on their plans even when faced with opportunities for defection.

The Assault on International Law

Russian interference in the 2016 US presidential election was illegal because it violated the American people's right of self-determination.

International Law and the Future of Democracy

Election Interference

Jens Ohlin’s Criminal Law is designed to respond to the changing nature of law teaching by offering a shorter, flexible, and more doctrinal approach, with an emphasis on application. Materials are presented, in a visually lively style, via a consistently structured pedagogy within each chapter: Doctrine (treatise-like explanation), Application (cases), and Practice/Policy (questions providing an opportunity for normative critique of the law and exploration of practical and strategic challenges facing criminal lawyers). Theory is integrated into the doctrine section rather than conveyed through law review excerpts, so as to help students make the necessary connections to doctrinal issues. Aggressively-edited cases help keep the length to a minimum, and modern cases will engage younger students and professors. New to the Third Edition: New materials on mass incarceration, the “defund the police” movement, and prison abolition Revised chapter on Felony Murder, taking into account recent doctrinal developments, including California’s repeal of the doctrine Revised chapter on Provocation New Problem Case dealing with “Swatting” New chapter on Offenses Against the Administration of Justice, covering obstruction of justice, perjury, bribery, corruption, and contempt of court Professors and students will benefit from: Structure and content which line up with how professors actually teach the course, as opposed to how the course was taught a generation ago Integrated notes throughout the casebook, directing students to view a series of 20 short video clips that bring the doctrinal controversies to life in a fictional courtroom Shorter-than-average casebook length, helping to make it more manageable for professors with reduced course hours Brief chapters, each focusing on a single doctrine Innovative pedagogy emphasizing application of law to facts (while still retaining enough flexibility so as to be useful for a variety of professors with different teaching styles) Theory interwoven into doctrine materials (rather than rigorous law review excerpts) New, fresh, tightly-edited cases Post-case notes and questions to invite closer examination of doctrine/application and to generate class discussion “Problem Case” boxes (featuring high-profile cases and which include discussion questions) Hypotheticals “Afterward” boxes (following some cases) “Advice” boxes “Practice and Policy” sections in each chapter, urging students to consider how the various actors in the process (prosecutors, defense counsel, judges and juries) make particular decisions and the strategic calculations that informed them, and make this casebook more practice-ready than others Open, two-color design with appealing visual elements (including carefully-selected photographs)

Doctrine, Application, and Practice

Criminal Law

Criminal Procedure: Doctrine, Application, and Practice by Jens David Ohlin is designed to respond to the changing nature of teaching law by offering a flexible approach with an emphasis on application. Each chapter focuses on Supreme Court cases that articulate the constitutional requirements, while call-out boxes outline statutes or state constitutional law provisions that impose more stringent rules. Short problem cases, also in boxes, ask students to apply these principles to new fact patterns. Each chapter ends with a Practice and Policy section that delves deeper into the conceptual and practical obstacles to the realization of procedural rights in the daily practice of criminal law. The result is a modular format, presented in a lively visual style, which recognizes and supports the diverse pedagogical approaches by today’s leading criminal procedure professors. Professors and students will benefit from: A mixture of classic and new Supreme Court cases on criminal procedure Call-out boxes that outline statutory requirements Call-out boxes that focus on more demanding state law rules Problem cases that require students to apply the law to new facts A Practice and Policy section which allows a deeper investigation of doctrinal and policy controversies, but whose placement at the end of each chapter maximizes instructors’ freedom to focus on the materials that most interest them Notes and questions, inviting closer examination of doctrine and generate class discussion Innovative pedagogy, emphasizing application of law to facts (while still retaining enough flexibility so as to be useful for a variety of professors with different teaching styles) Logical organization and manageable length Open, two-color design with appealing visual elements (including carefully-selected photographs)

Criminal Procedure

The practice of armed conflict has changed radically in the last decade. With eminent contributors from legal, government and military backgrounds, this Research Handbook addresses the legal implications of remote warfare and its significance for combatants, civilians, policymakers and international lawyers.

Research Handbook on Remote Warfare

The controversy surrounding targeted killings represents a crisis of conscience for policymakers, lawyers, philosophers and leading military experts grappling with the moral and legal limits of the war on terror. The book examines the legal and philosophical issues raised by government efforts to target suspected terrorists without giving them the safeguards of a fair trial.

Gloria Gaggioli

Steven J. Barela

Mark Fallon

"This book focuses on the science, law and morality behind interrogational methods. It develops, for the first time, a comprehensive discussion regarding the legality of torture and the efficacy of interrogation. In other words, scientific research has concluded that torture is not effective. This then raises a natural question: What interrogational methods are effective? How does one employ those methods in way that is consistent with law and morality?"--

Integrating Efficacy with Law and Morality

Interrogation and Torture

Duncan B. Hollis

Election interference is one of the most widely discussed international phenomena of the last five years. Russian covert interference in the 2016 U.S. Presidential Election elevated the topic into a national priority, but that experience was far from an isolated one. Evidence of election interference by foreign states or their proxies has become a regular feature of national elections and is likely to get worse in the near future. Information and communication technologies afford those who would interfere with new tools that can operate in ways previously unimaginable: Twitter bots, Facebook advertisements, closed social media platforms, algorithms that prioritize extreme views, disinformation, misinformation, and malware that steals secret campaign communications. Defending Democracies examines the problem through an interdisciplinary lens and focuses on: (i) defining the problem of foreign election interference, (ii) exploring the solutions that international law might bring to bear, and (iii) considering alternative regulatory frameworks for understanding and addressing the problem. The result is a deeply urgent examination of an old problem on social media steroids, one that implicates the most central institution of liberal democracy: elections. The volume seeks to bring domestic and international perspectives on elections and election law into conversation with other disciplinary frameworks, escaping the typical biases of lawyers who prefer international legal solutions for issues of international relations. Taken together, the chapters in this volume represent a more faithful representation of the broad array of solutions that might be deployed, including international and domestic, legal and extra-legal, ambitious and cautious.

Jens David Ohlin

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