From law against war to war against law: Lawfare, between negation and critique of international law
Ancelin, Julien
From law against war to war against law: Lawfare, between negation and critique of international law - 2022.
89
Lawfare can be seen as an element of discourse on international law. Whereas international law was developed in the service of peace in the 1945 consensus, lawfare tends to make it a means of conflictuality. Considering the legal instrument as an element of the international political equation in the same way as other interests (economic, social, cultural or philosophical) may not seem very innovative. Indeed, when a state actor pursues a lawfare strategy, the latter may appear as an illustration of a form of foreign legal policy. However, the use of this contemporary theoretical tool shaped across the Atlantic is not neutral and its effects appear unpredictable. If practicing lawfare for a State allows it to dress up the criticism of a rule that has allegedly been misused by an adversary and to try to get rid of its application, this strategy is not without consequences for the legal society created since the end of the Second World War. Lawfare maintains a discourse that negates the norm, that weakens its content and that reduces, with varying degrees of severity, the legal security that operates in the interests of all the actors of international society.
From law against war to war against law: Lawfare, between negation and critique of international law - 2022.
89
Lawfare can be seen as an element of discourse on international law. Whereas international law was developed in the service of peace in the 1945 consensus, lawfare tends to make it a means of conflictuality. Considering the legal instrument as an element of the international political equation in the same way as other interests (economic, social, cultural or philosophical) may not seem very innovative. Indeed, when a state actor pursues a lawfare strategy, the latter may appear as an illustration of a form of foreign legal policy. However, the use of this contemporary theoretical tool shaped across the Atlantic is not neutral and its effects appear unpredictable. If practicing lawfare for a State allows it to dress up the criticism of a rule that has allegedly been misused by an adversary and to try to get rid of its application, this strategy is not without consequences for the legal society created since the end of the Second World War. Lawfare maintains a discourse that negates the norm, that weakens its content and that reduces, with varying degrees of severity, the legal security that operates in the interests of all the actors of international society.
Réseaux sociaux