Aust: Circumstances Precluding Wrongfulness

Helmut Aust (Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin - Law) has posted Circumstances Precluding Wrongfulness (in Principles of Shared Responsibility in International Law - An Appraisal of the State of the Art, André Nollkaemper & Ilias Plakokefalos eds., forthcoming). Here's the abstract:

This contribution assesses how the circumstances precluding wrongfulness set forth in Articles 20-27 of the 2001 Articles on State Responsibility and the 2011 Articles on the Responsibility of International Organizations of the International Law Discussion cope with situations of "shared responsibility", i.e. in particular when multiple states and/or IOs try to rely on the circumstances in order to exonerate themselves for prima facie wrongful conduct. The contribution unearthes conceptual challenges for the application of the circumstances in such circumstances and pleads for a re-conceptualisation of the regime of "defences" which distinguishes between circumstances which genuinely justify conduct and circumstances which would only work as "excuses".