Counterinsurgency and Stability Operations: A New Approach to Legal Interpretation

US Naval War College, International Law Studies (Blue Book) Series, Vol. 86, pp. 289-321, 2010

33 Pages Posted: 18 Mar 2011

See all articles by Dale Stephens

Dale Stephens

Adelaide Research Unit on Military Law and Ethics (RUMLAE)

Date Written: 2010

Abstract

We are currently living in the post modern era of warfare where small scale, internecine conflict is the norm. It turns out that such warfare can be as deadly and strategically significant as conventional warfare. The US military has re-conceptualized how such wars are to be effectively engaged with the publication of the Counterinsurgency and Stability Operations field manuals. These manuals represent a decisive shift in the manner such conflicts are to be perceived and fought. Notwithstanding such a decisive operational change, there has been a correlative lag in accompanying legal interpretative practice. This article seeks to redress that omission and offers a theoretical and practical framework for optimizing the interpretative enterprise experienced in applying the Law of Armed Conflict to counterinsurgency and stability operations.

Keywords: Law of Armed Conflict, Counterinsurgency, Stability operations, US Legal Realism

JEL Classification: K33

Suggested Citation

Stephens, Dale, Counterinsurgency and Stability Operations: A New Approach to Legal Interpretation (2010). US Naval War College, International Law Studies (Blue Book) Series, Vol. 86, pp. 289-321, 2010, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=1784533

Dale Stephens (Contact Author)

Adelaide Research Unit on Military Law and Ethics (RUMLAE) ( email )

SA 5005
Australia
+61 (0)8 8313 5937 (Phone)

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