International Law and use of force

Abstract

One of the most important but also one of the most controversial areas of international law is the legal regulation of the use of military force. The nature, content and effectiveness of this domain of international law expresses, much more clearly than any other branch, the very nature of international law. One of the most prominent 20th century international lawyers Louis Henkin wrote, “Almost all nations observe almost all principles of international law and almost all of their obligations almost all of the time.” This observation is true and almost all nations almost all of the time observe also the principle prohibiting use of force and threat of force in international relations. However, use of military force between states belongs to so-called “low probability-high consequence events” and therefore every use of military force, even if relatively minor, has almost incomparable negative consequences in terms of human lives lost, properties and livelihoods destroyed and all kinds of miseries increased. Therefore, the enhancement of the observation of this principle remains one of the most important tasks of international law and international lawyers.