The Recognition of War: A History of the Legal Concepts of Armed Conflict

A Talk by Prof. Ioannis Kalpouzos, Visiting Researcher, Harvard Law School

When

April 8, 2019 from noon to 1:00 pm • lunch provided

Where

Lewis International Law Center, Room 214B

Summary

The talk will address the legal classification of violence as an armed conflict as part of a struggle for recognition. It will describe the trajectory of different concepts of war and armed conflict associated with non-state groups, and the evolution of the requirements of the intensity of violence and organization of a group. It will propose three rationales for classification and recognition, appearing overtime but occasionally overlapping: recognition as conferral of status and legitimacy; recognition for humanitarian protection; and punitive recognition. The recent rise of punitive recognition through asymmetric war governance is revealing but not conclusive.

Video

Image credit: Attack and take of the Crête-à-Pierrot. Original illustration by Auguste Raffet, engraving by Hébert, 1839.