The Classification of Armed Conflicts

This course aims to study, in depth, an emblematic example of the complexity of international humanitarian law (IHL) and the challenges it raises: the classification of armed conflicts (ACs). The course first analyzes the contours of the various categories of ACs (e.g. international AC, internationalized non-international ACs, wars of national liberation, belligerent occupations, high-intensity and low-intensity non-international ACs) in connection with the traditional distinction between non-international and international ACs. The course then questions the relevance of this last distinction in light of the requirements of contemporary ACs and the increased role played by independent actors within them. The course relies, as much as possible, on concrete examples illustrating the different categories of ACs and the controversies they raise.