Book Launch: Alex Wentker "Party Status to Armed Conflict in International Law"(OUP 2024)
Dr. Alexander Wentker, Senior Research Fellow, Max Planck Institute for Comparative Public Law and International Law
Elizabeth Wilmshurst CMG, KC Distinguished Fellow, International Law Programme, Chatham House
Professor Philippa Webb, Professor of Public International Law, Blavatnik School of Government
Professor Marko Milanovic, Professor of Public International Law, University of Reading.
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The launch will be chaired by Elizabeth Wilmshurst CMG, KC Distinguished Fellow, International Law Programme, Chatham House, with panellists Professor Philippa Webb, Professor of Public International Law, Blavatnik School of Government and Professor Marko Milanovic, Professor of Public International Law, University of Reading. A blurb for the book is available below.
Abstract of the Book
Alexander Wentker, Party Status to Armed Conflict in International Law (OUP 2024)
The book is about why it matters and how it is established that a State, international organisation, or armed group is a party to an armed conflict under international law. Debates around support to Ukraine in Russia’s war of aggression have reminded us that these questions are still insufficiently understood, although they have been ever-present in armed conflict. Against that background, the book, first, shows that party status is central to all levels of the international legal regulation of armed conflicts, even if its meaning today differs from traditional implications of being at war that party status is still regularly associated with. In response to increasingly widespread co-operation practices in armed conflict, the book then develops a common analytical framework for identifying parties to conflicts with multiple parties on the same side. The framework is rooted in the general structure of international law regulating armed conflict and informed by international practice. The book also shows how this framework allows for refining how obligations are allocated in armed conflict. This refining aims to contribute to mitigating the risk that co-operative settings diffuse responsibilities and harnessing the potential of co-operation for increased protection. Overall, a clearer sense of party status can help us better understand the architecture of international law’s regulation of armed conflict and how it can respond to the complex realities of contemporary armed conflicts.