In one of the most dramatic moments in international legal history, advocates for South Africa argued before the International Court of Justice (ICJ) that Israel’s resort to and conduct of war in Gaza violates the Genocide Convention.
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The International Court of Justice and Genocide in Gaza
It is difficult to predict at this stage the impact of South Africa’s application to the International Court of Justice (ICJ) charging Israel with genocide over its response to Hamas’s October 7 attack and massacre.
A Call for an International Solidarity
The Universal Declaration of Human Rights, Article 1 indicates the obligation of universal solidarity as a foundation for human rights: “All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights. They are endowed with reason and conscience and should act towards one another in a spirit of brotherhood.”
Ukraine: An Intersection of Environmental and Nuclear Security Issues
Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022 is one of most monitored conflicts in the history of warfare. From remote sensing satellite imagery to signals intelligence to social media monitoring, copious data are being collected and analyzed in real time.
Ukraine’s IT Army: Digital Resistance to Russian Propaganda
Russia is waging an information war against Ukraine. Similar to their successes on the battlefield against Russia, Ukrainians are undermining Russia’s attacks in the digital realm. This article showcases how Ukrainians are fighting back–and winning–as they demonstrate...
The Peace Movement and Ukraine
These are difficult times for peace supporters. Faced with Russia’s brutal aggression in Ukraine and rising militarization in the United States and around the world, we are troubled and uncertain about what to do. Millions of us marched against the Iraq war 20 years...
Mapping Civil Resistance in Ukraine
Ukraine is a country with more than 100 years of experience in nonviolent action. Since the beginning of the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine, Ukrainian civil society has spontaneously and courageously organized to counter the military occupation through hundreds of...
Ukraine, the Environment and Negotiating Peace
On July 28, 2022 the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) voted—by a count of 161 in favor, with 8 abstentions—that living in a clean, healthy, and sustainable environment is a human right. Building on the similar declaration by the UN Human Rights Council (UN HRC)...
Turning against war
In April 1971, more than a thousand Vietnam veterans descended on Washington, DC, for a series of antiwar actions dubbed Dewey Canyon III, “a limited incursion into the land of Congress.” For a week the veterans demonstrated and lobbied government officials to end the...
Why social movement scholars should study the GI Movement
The ignominies of the U.S. war in Vietnam are well known, as recounted in Chuck Searcy’s essay. Less well known is the rebellion in the ranks known as “the GI Movement,” which David Cortright discusses in his article. Active duty servicepersons circulated dissident...
Healing the wounds of war and seeking reconciliation
When I flew out of Viet Nam in 1968, it was with huge relief that I was departing safely after a tumultuous year that made clear to me and the world that America would never win this war. But I was also troubled, confused, and angry. The Vietnamese people were...
Ethical Perspectives on Drone Warfare
Rashied Omar is the Research Scholar of Islamic Studies and Peacebuilding at the Kroc Institute for International Peace Studies. He is author of Tolerance, Civil Society and Renaissance in Post-Apartheid South Africa, published by Claremont Main Road Mosque in Cape...
The Myth of a Perfect Weapon and a Perfect War
Cora Currier is on staff at The Intercept and a journalist with a focus on national security, foreign affairs, and human rights. Her work has been published in Stars and Stripes, The Nation, Al Jazeera America and many other outlets. Last fall, my colleagues at The...
Debating Drones: A Response to Michael Hayden
David Cortright is Director of Policy Studies at the Kroc Institute for International Peace Studies. He is coeditor of Drones and the Future of Armed Conflict (Chicago University Press, 2015) and author of Ending Obama’s War (Paradigm, 2011). Michael Hayden, the...
The Security Council Must Act!
Peter Wallensteen Peter Wallensteen is Richard G. Starmann Sr. Research Professor at the Kroc Institute for International Peace Studies and Senior Professor in the Department of Peace and Conflict Research at Sweden’s Uppsala University. His most recent research...
Vietnam: Wrong Lessons Learned
Andrew Bacevich Andrew Bacevich is Professor Emeritus of History and international relations at Boston University. He was a commissioned officer in the U.S. Army and served as platoon leader in Vietnam in 1970-71. The major lesson that the U.S. national security...
Vietnam Contingencies
Marilyn Young Marilyn Young is Professor of History at New York University. She is author of The Vietnam Wars: 1945-1990. As we reflect on how the war began, it is worth considering how things might have played out differently. We know that Ho Chi Minh used the U.S....
The Vietnam War: Lessons Unlearned
David Cortright David Cortright is Associate Director for Programs and Policy Studies at the Kroc Institute for International Peace Studies. As an enlisted soldier during the Vietnam War, he spoke out against that conflict. There are many lessons of Vietnam, but three...
Moral & Legal Challenges of Drone Warfare
Ethicists and international legal experts speaking at the Kroc Institute conference (March 19-21) raised concerns about the implications of drone warfare. Martin Cook (U.S. Naval War College) noted that drone weapons reduce the risk to U.S. forces and result in fewer...
A Conference to Assess Drone Warfare
Chicago — The Kroc Institute recently assembled some of the world’s leading experts on counterterrorism strategy, ethics and the use of force, international law and civil and human rights for a conference (March 19-21) on “The Ethical, Strategic and Legal Implications...