Provides a multi-perspective study of the international law on self-defence against non-State actors.

Mary Ellen O'Connell is the Robert and Marion Short Professor of Law and is Research Professor of International Dispute Resolution ¿ Kroc Institute for International Peace Studies, University of Notre Dame, Indiana. She was previously a vice president of the American Society of International Law and chaired the Use of Force Committee of the International Law Association. She has also practised law with the Washington, DC-based law firm, Covington & Burling.

Introduction to the series: trialogical international law Anne Peters; Introduction: dilution of self-defence and its discontents Anne Peters and Christian Marxsen; 1. The use of force in self-defence against non-state actors, decline of collective security and the rise of unilateralism: whither international law? Dire Tladi; 2. Self-defence against non-state actors: making sense of the 'armed attack' requirement Christian J. Tams; 3. Self-defence, pernicious doctrines, peremptory norms Mary Ellen O'Connell; Conclusion: self-defence against non-state actors ¿ the way ahead Christian Marxsen and Anne Peters.