Military Necessity: Conceptual Cacophony

• In Event: Returning Military Necessity to Just War Statecraft

Abstract

The concept of necessity, and more specifically military necessity, has deep roots in the traditions of just war thinking as well as in international law. Despite these deep and common roots, the invocation of necessity, and indeed its conceptualisation, can often substantially differ across the aforementioned discursive fields. This paper will examine the various knowledge communities and how they conceptualise and invoke necessity.

Author

• Louis Bujnoch, University of Glasgow