The Concept of “The Human” in the Critique of Autonomous Weapons

by Kevin Jon Heller | Dec 15, 2023 | Main Articles, Volume 15

Kevin Jon Heller[*] [This essay is available in PDF at this link] The idea that using “killer robots” in armed conflict is unacceptable because they are not human is at the heart of nearly every critique of autonomous weapons. Some of those critiques are...

Return to Sender?: Analyzing the Senior Leader “Open Letter” On Civilian Control of the Military

by Maj. Gen. Charles J. Dunlap, Jr., USAF (Ret.) | Dec 15, 2023 | Main Articles, Volume 15

Maj. Gen. Charles J. Dunlap, Jr., USAF (Ret.)[*] [This essay is available in PDF at this link] In response to the September 2022 open letter, “To Support and Defend: Principles of Civilian Control and Best Practices of Civil-Military Relations,” by eight former...

Sovereignty, Article II, and the Military During Domestic Unrest

by Christopher Mirasola | Dec 15, 2023 | Main Articles, Volume 15

Christopher Mirasola[*] [This essay is available in PDF at this link] In this article, I contest two theories of inherent presidential power, rooted in Article II, to use the military to respond to domestic unrest during peacetime. This question is more contested than...

Volume 14, Issue 2

by harvardnsj | May 20, 2023 | Main Articles, Volume 14

Volume 14, Issue 2 is out!

How the Erosion of U.S. War Powers Constraints Has Undermined International Law Constraints on the Use of Force

by Oona A. Hathaway | May 20, 2023 | Main Articles, Volume 14

Oona A. Hathaway[*] [This essay is available in PDF at this link] The last several decades have witnessed a dramatic decline in the capacity of the U.S. Congress to constrain the president’s unilateral decisions to send the United States to war. That erosion of...

Strict Subordination: The Origins of Civil Control of Private Military Power in State Constitutions

by Alden A. Fletcher | May 20, 2023 | Main Articles, Volume 14

Alden A. Fletcher[*] [This essay is available in PDF at this link] The resurgence of private militias claiming the protection of the Second Amendment raises a startling question: is the United States a country without a legal monopoly on the use of force? Perhaps not....