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Chapter 8: The Use of Force against Non-State Actors

Chapter 8: The Use of Force against Non-State Actors

pp. 308-346

Authors

, University of Sussex
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Extract

This chapter seeks to untangle various issues in addressing when and how a state might be able to resort to the use of force in self-defence against non-state actors. It firstly raises some important general considerations in relation to self-defence against non-state actors, before moving on to examine the situation of self-defence measures which target both the non-state actors and the host state, as was the case with the United States’s response to the terrorist attacks of 11 September 2001. A distinction needs to be made between self-defence taken against both the non-state actor perpetrators of the attack or those posing a threat and the state within which they are located, and those actions that are more limited in only specifically targeting the non-state actors. The chapter finally addresses the particular phenomenon of so-called ‘targeted killing’, which engages not only the jus ad bellum, but also the legal framework of international human rights law and, potentially, international humanitarian law.

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