Efforts to Destroy ISIS Have Permanently Changed International Law, Legal Researcher Concludes
Case Western Reserve UniversityAn urgent need to respond with force to the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) has permanently changed the use of self-defense in international law to attack a threat in another country, according to newly published research from the Case Western Reserve University School of Law. The use of force against al-Qaida and ISIS during the past 14 years has given rise to what Michael Scharf, co-dean of the Case Western Reserve School of Law, describes as a “Grotian Moment”—a fundamental paradigm shift that will have broad implications for international law. The main implication of this newly accepted change in the international law of self-defense is that any nation can now lawfully use force against a threat (terrorists, rebels, pirates, drug cartels, etc.) in another country if that nation is unable or unwilling to suppress the threat within its borders.