NEW PUBLICATION: The Individualization of War: Rights, Liability, and Accountability in Contemporary Armed Conflict

CIPSS Director Jennifer Welsh is involved in a new edited book which examines the changing status of individuals in modern armed conflicts, highlighting their roles as protected subjects, liable actors, and accountable agents. The work integrates moral philosophy, international law, and international relations to explore the multifaceted implications of individualization in warfare.

Available for pre-order now, ships on February 14th

For more information, including on where to purchase the book, CLICK HERE

The rights and responsibilities of the individual are at the centre of today's armed conflicts in a way that they have never been before. This process of 'individualization', which challenges the primacy of the sovereign state, is driven by normative developments related to human rights that have elevated human-centric conceptions of security and created a new class of international crimes, as well as by technological and strategic developments that can both empower individuals as military actors and enable either the targeting or protection of particular individuals.

The Individualization of War examines the status of individuals in contemporary armed conflict in three main capacities: as subject to violence but deserving of protection; as liable to harm because of their responsibility for attacks on others; and as agents who can be held accountable for the perpetration of crimes. This book presents a novel conceptualization of the phenomenon of individualization, including how it is both practiced and contested. It then convenes a set of leading thinkers from the fields of moral philosophy, international law, and international relations to further our understanding of not only how individualization is manifest in armed conflict - in theory and in practice - but also how it generates tensions and challenges for today's scholars and practitioners. The collective research on which the book is based integrates the currently segregated scholarship on individualization in different academic disciplines, thereby illuminating the important links between law, morality, and politics that constitute the day-to-day reality for national militaries, international organizations, and humanitarian actors