Yearbook of International Humanitarian Law, Volume 24, 2021
Series: Yearbook of International Humanitarian Law

Volume 24 of the Yearbook of International Humanitarian Law (IHL) is dedicated to investigating IHL’s universalist claims from various perspectives and regarding different areas of IHL. While academic debates about “universalism versus particularism” have dominated much of the critical scholarship in international law over the past two decades, they remain relatively underexplored in the field of IHL. The current volume fills this gap in IHL literature by focusing on the ways in which different interpretive communities approach questions of IHL from differing perspectives. Authors were invited to use the concept of culture to deconstruct and take a critical distance from the production, interpretation, and application of IHL, and those keen on challenging the idea that IHL needs critical deconstruction were also invited to argue their case.

The Volume contains four chapters dedicated to the subject of cultures of IHL. It also features a book symposium on Samuel Moyn’s Humane: How The United States Abandoned Peace and Reinvented War (2021) and ends, as usual, with a Year in Review section.

The Yearbook of International Humanitarian Law is a leading annual publication devoted to the study of international humanitarian law. The Yearbook has always strived to be at the forefront of the debate of pressing doctrinal questions of IHL and will continue to do so in the future. As this volume shows, it is also a forum for taking a step back and reflecting on the broader, theoretical issues that inform the practice and thinking about the field. The Yearbook of International Humanitarian Law provides an international forum for high-quality, peer-reviewed academic articles focusing on this crucial branch of international law.

Distinguished by contemporary relevance, it bridges the gap between theory and practice and serves as a useful reference tool for scholars, practitioners, military personnel, civil servants, diplomats, human rights workers and students.

Specific to this Yearbook:

• Always striving to be at the forefront of the debate of pressing doctrinal questions regarding IHL
• Takes a step back to reflect on the broader, theoretical issues informing the practice and thinking about the field
• Investigates IHL’s universalist claims from different perspectives, an issue that has been underexplored to date

The Yearbook of International Humanitarian Law is published in the Yearbook of International Humanitarian Law Series

N.B. Each year, Correspondents’ Reports are written to accompany the Yearbook. For these as well as for the Call for Papers and Guidelines, please see www.asser.nl/asserpress/documentation/