Strategies of Restraint: What Are The Prospects For Humanitarian Principles In Armed Conflict?

Abstract

However good an idea restraint may be, it is harder to implement than proponents would like. Great power interests simultaneously encourage and stymie development of the institutions necessary to enforce the rules of warfare. IHL as applies between states is "basically fine" despite this. However, the problem is elsewhere: 'new wars' actually being fought today operate under a political logic that is antagonistic to the recognition of humanitarian principles. International criminal law is still too unreliable and narrowly applicable to seriously prevent unnecessary human suffering in low-intensity conflicts being fought today throughout, for example, the Middle East and northern Africa. Something must be done to safeguard and enhance the relevance of the rules of warfare.