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Originally Posted by KirStang
So we had an interesting discussion in class today:
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I love it when people bring college discussions onto the internet! I miss school.
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Originally Posted by KirStang
This is particularly interesting in this day and age--especially where in International Law, wars are distinctly defined as 'international' (within the reach of international bodies of law) and 'internal' (to which only Common Article 3 of the Geneva convention applies). However, in the past, a civil war (in the former Yugoslavian Republic) was deemed 'international' since a neighboring country provided payroll, logistical and command support.
To this I ask, is the Libyan war 'internal' or 'international?' Should a sovereign have the unlimited means to defend it's existence (i.e. China) or should sovereigns be limited in what they can do(i.e. Libya)? If a sovereign is limited, what overarching principle governs a sovereigns actions? (Since international bodies *generally* tend to lack police powers).
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Lybia started internal and quickly became international. It started as a small insurgency against the Gaddafi administration, then it grew, but when Gaddafi's attempts to quell the potential rebellion were particularly brutal (though no less brutal than what's going on in other countries right now, such as Bahrain). The ICC warned that Gaddafi might be committing crimes against humanity, and then the UN stepped in. It became international as soon as it moved from an ICC warning to the UN Security Council, imho.
Quantifying human suffering has got to be tricky business, particularly when you're being asked to draw a line between acceptable suffering and unacceptable suffering. The brilliance of the Hague and Geneva conventions is their lines err on the side of too much suffering in cases that might seem gray.
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Originally Posted by KirStang
Finally, does law *give* authority to start a war (positivist law argument)--or do states inherently have the right to declare war (natural type law argument)?
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Wow, I've never considered this question before. I have absolutely no idea.
I'm going to need to read about this and ponder a bit. Great discussion topic, KirStang.