Armed Groups and International Law

Hardback

Armed Groups and International Law

In the Shadowland of Legality and Illegality

9781800888333 Edward Elgar Publishing
Edited by Katharine Fortin, Associate Professor, Netherlands Institute of Human Rights, University of Utrecht, the Netherlands and Ezequiel Heffes, Director, Watchlist on Children and Armed Conflict, New York City, US
Publication Date: 2023 ISBN: 978 1 80088 833 3 Extent: 340 pp
Through its careful consideration of the status of armed groups within a complex legal landscape, this insightful volume identifies and examines the tensions that arise due to their actions existing across a spectrum of legality and illegality. Considering the number of armed groups currently exercising governance functions and controlling territory and population in the world, its analysis is especially topical.

This title contains one or more Open Access chapters.

Copyright & permissions

Recommend to librarian

Your Details

Privacy Policy

Librarian Details

Download leaflet

Print page

More Information
Critical Acclaim
Contributors
Contents
More Information
Through its careful consideration of the status of armed groups within a complex legal landscape, this insightful book identifies and examines the tensions that arise due to their actions existing across a spectrum of legality and illegality. Considering the number of armed groups currently exercising governance functions and controlling territory and population in the world, its analysis is especially topical.

Armed Groups and International Law provides essential peer-reviewed analyses of the place of armed groups in the legal framework. A collaborative effort between eminent scholars from different disciplines, it summarises various points of contention within the study of these armed actors, detailing examples that are highly relevant to the contemporary world, such as Afghanistan and Syria.

Addressing law-making, rebel governance and accountability, this illuminating book will be of great benefit to students of international humanitarian law, human rights law, international criminal law, and public international law seeking to expand their understanding of the treatment of armed groups within the international legal system. It will also serve as a useful resource for practitioners working in the area of civilian protection and academics conducting research on armed conflict from a variety of disciplines.
Critical Acclaim
‘A thoughtful and thought-provoking collection by some of the leading voices in the field. Expertly curated, this is valuable reading for anyone interested in issues relating to armed groups and international law.’
– Sandesh Sivakumaran, University of Cambridge, UK

‘This wide-ranging collection brings together experts from across political science and legal studies to probe one of the most complex and pressing problems facing the world today: how should the international community understand the reality of rebel rule? Tackling both the big picture as well as delving into the intricacies that have bedeviled analysts and policy makers, contributors push the analysis in new directions while unearthing long forgotten truths. An agenda-setting volume, the book will shape the debate on international law and armed groups for the foreseeable future.’
– Zachariah Mampilly, The City University of New York, US

‘This superlative collection addresses a highly significant and still overlooked dimension of international and domestic law, namely its application to internal armed conflicts and to non-state armed groups. Noting the relative dearth of substantive attention to this relationship, even as the numbers of armed conflicts and non-state armed groups proliferate, the editors and contributors provide clear, astute, and original analyses of the range of implications which draw equally from rich and carefully detailed histories of the development and application of humanitarian, human rights and criminal law and their use in a range of fascinating cases. Conceptually and empirically grounded, this volume is by far the best introduction to the fundamentally necessary, and continually urgent, understanding of armed groups and international and domestic law.’
– Helen M. Kinsella, University of Minnesota, US

‘This work provides important new insights into how armed groups navigate – and are being navigated by – international and domestic law and other norms. It sheds light on a vast array of thus far underexplored conundrums and intricacies that result from their existence. It is highly recommended to anyone in search of a deeper understanding of the legal implications of the reality of armed groups.’
– Jann Kleffner, Swedish Defence University, Sweden.

‘This book takes the reader beyond the paradox that armed groups are both illegal and engaged in law-enforcement. The authors take us into the day-to-day world of rebel governance and explore the work done by law. We are treated to something which is both scholarly and practical. This kind of inquiry can only benefit the millions living under rebel control.’
– Andrew Clapham, Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies, Switzerland

‘Fortin and Heffes have assembled a stellar collection of leading scholars on the difficult topic of armed groups under international and domestic law, providing us with thoughtful and rigorous analysis and insight into a complex area that defies easy legal and political solutions.’
– Emily Crawford, The University of Sydney Law School, Australia


Contributors
Contributors: Niels H. Appeldorn, Rogier Bartels, Annyssa Bellal, Daniëlla Dam-de Jong, Helen Duffy, Katharine Fortin, Marta Furlan, Gloria Gaggioli, Ezequiel Heffes, Hyeran Jo, Giovanni Mantilla, Luke Moffett, Alessandra Spadaro, Ilya Sobol
Contents
Contents:

Foreword x
Acknowledgments xiv
Introduction: An exploration of the shadowland of armed groups
and international law 1
Katharine Fortin and Ezequiel Heffes
1 Violence as redress: Armed groups, the right to rebellion
and the resort to force for gross violations of human rights 15
Luke Moffett
2 The politics of armed non-state groups and the
codification of international humanitarian law 43
Giovanni Mantilla
3 ‘The right to participate in hostilities’: combatant privilege
vs criminal responsibility for members of organised armed
groups during international and domestic criminal trials 64
Rogier Bartels
4 Proscription and group membership in counter-terrorism
and armed conflict: Areas of tensions between criminal
law and international humanitarian law 91
Ilya Sobol and Gloria Gaggioli
5 Shadowland strategy: How non-state armed actors
navigate between national laws and international law 120
Hyeran Jo and Niels H. Appeldorn
6 Exploring the civilian and political institutions of armed
non-state actors under IHL in an age of rebel governance 140
Katharine Fortin
7 Rebel rulers and rules for rebels: Rebel governance and
international law 167
Alessandra Spadaro
8 From law-taking to law-making and law-adapting:
Exploring non-state armed groups’ normative efforts 191
Ezequiel Heffes
9 The provision of healthcare by Islamist armed groups:
Between sharia and international law 212
Marta Furlan
10 De facto justice: Prosecution by non-state actors in armed conflict 237
Helen Duffy
11 ‘Equals, but not Equals’: The paradox of amnesties and
armed groups in non-international armed conflict 270
Annyssa Bellal
12 A matter of life and death: The impact of power-sharing
on the legal position of armed groups 288
Daniëlla Dam-de Jong

Index
eBook for individuals
978 1 80088 834 0
From £25.00
Click here for options
eBook for library purchase
978 1 80088 834 0
View sample chapter and check access on:
eBook options

Available for individuals to buy from these websites

Or recommend to your institution to acquire on Elgaronline
  • Buy as part of an eBook subject collection - flexible options available
  • Downloading and printing allowed
  • No limits on concurrent user access, ideal for course use
My Cart