Over the past ten years the content and application of international law in armed conflict has changed dramatically. This Oxford Handbook provides an authoritative and comprehensive study of the role of international law in armed conflict and engages in a broad analysis of international humanitarian law, human rights law, refugee law, international criminal law, environmental law, and the law on the use of force. With an international group of expert contributors, the Handbook has a global, multi-disciplinary perspective on the place of law in war. The Handbook consists of 32 chapters in seven parts. Part I provides the historical background of international law in armed conflict and sets out its contemporary challenges. Part II considers the relevant sources of international law. Part III describes the different legal regimes: land warfare, air warfare, maritime warfare, the law of occupation, the law applicable to peace operations, and the law of neutrality. Part IV introduces crucial concepts in humanitarian law: the use of weapons, proportionality, the principle of distinction, and internal armed conflict. Part V looks at rights issues: life, torture, fair trials, the environment, economic, social and cultural rights, the protection of cultural property, and the human rights of members of the armed forces. Part VI covers key issues in times of conflict: the use of force, terrorism, unlawful combatants, mercenaries, forced migration, and issues of gender. Part VII deals with accountability for war crimes, the responsibility of non-state actors, compensation before national courts, and, finally, transitional justice.

In this academic but very readable work, the author tries to shed light on the contemporary meaning and legal definition of the concept of 'Non-International Armed Conflict', which was originally created to cover situations of 'classical' Civil Wars. In this book, Haeck tries to answer the question when a certain situation can be described as being a 'Non-International Armed Conflict'. He analyses the answers that have been given by the international case-law and doctrine and creates a working-definition that can be used to determine if a situation can be classified as a Non-International Armed Conflict. Subsequently, he sheds light on the possible reasons one might have to classify something as an Armed Conflict - or not. To clarify this theoretical and abstract exercise, the author applies his theoretical framework to three contemporary case-studies. This short but heavily researched book can be an excellent starting point for everyone who is interested in the legal framework regulating the law of Armed Conflict or anyone who is eager to understand what might drive the relevant stakeholders to classify a certain situation as an Armed Conflict or not.