Introduction 1
1 The doctrine of self-defence and its limits in criminal law 13
Introduction 13
The.categorisation of self-defence 17
Wlien and how may self defensive force be used? 20
Self-defence in relation to duress and necessity 23
General defence of duress 25
The defining features of duress 27
Duress of circumstances 32
General defence of necessity 33
The limits of necessity 35
Self-defence and its limits 38
The critique of the imminence requirement 47
Is the requirement of imminence, in fact, merely a proxy for the concept of necessity? 52
Should the law be m,ore lenient towards the vulnerable? 60
The role of the state 64
The immediately necessary criterion 67
Conclusion 74
2 The laws of war and the roots of international self-defence 75
Introduction 75
The origins of the laws of war 76
Part.I: Limitations on warfare in the Islamic tradition 80
Introduction 80
Sources of Islamic jurisprudence 82
Islamic tradition on warfare 84
The concept ofjihad and its evolution 91
The division of the world into dar-ul-Islam and dar-ul-harb 98
The need for a contextual reading ofjihad in the United Nations era 101
Concluding remarks on Islamic laws of war 105
Part II: Christianity and just war tradition in the western world 107
Introduction 107
The early Christian attitude 109
Christianity as the official religion of the Roman Empire 112
The construction of the just war theory 114
The evolution of just war in the early modern, era 122
Sovereignty and the unhindered right to war 130
Concluding remarks on the Christian just war tradition 132
3 From sovereignty to unilateralism: a critique of the preventive war doctrine 134
Introduction 134
The reign of positivism, and the abandonment of the just, war principles 135
The Caroline affair 138
The revival of the just war doctrine: the League of Nations Era 140
The UN system and the prohibition on the use of force 143
Exceptions to the prohibition on the use of force 148
Collective measures 148
The reality of politics in international law 150
The right to self-defence and the preventive war doctrine 155
The challenge to imminence in the international context 157
The preventive war on Iraq 164
The legal precedents of anticipatory self-defence claims 166
A critique of the preventive war doctrine 170
The occupation of Iraq (2003-201?) 176
The outcomes of the preventive war strategy 182
Conclusion 186
4 The role and rationale of the imminence requirement in national and international law 188
Introduction 188
The nexus between domestic and international law 189
The temporal requirement of self-defence in national and international law 194
The Bush Doctrine: arbitrariness within the realm, of force 198
Relaxing the imminence rule in battered women's self-defence claims? 204
The political character of the imminence rule 209
The interconnection between the elements of self-defence: justified force versus acts of retaliation 213 Double standards in the application of international law: the element ofpotuer 221
The legal status of the preventive war doctrine: is there an evolving ncustomary norm? 232
Conclusion 237
5 Conclusions 239
Select bibliography 245
Index 268