Thursday, August 5, 2021

Akande & Tzanakopoulos: Use of Force in Self-Defence to Recover Occupied Territory: When Is It Permissible?

Dapo Akande (Univ. of Oxford - Law) & Antonios Tzanakopoulos (Univ. of Oxford - Law) have posted Use of Force in Self-Defence to Recover Occupied Territory: When Is It Permissible? (European Journal of International Law, forthcoming). Here's the abstract:
This paper considers if, and to what extent, a state may use force in self-defence in order to recover territory unlawfully occupied by another state as a result of an armed attack. The paper argues that any occupation that is the direct consequence of an unlawful armed attack must be considered a continuing armed attack, which triggers the right of self-defence. However, that right of self-defence is still subject to the conditions of necessity and proportionality, the condition of necessity here being the determining criterion as to whether, and more importantly, when, force can be used to recover territory occupied as a consequence of an armed attack.