Lawfare: A War Worth Fighting

Abstract:     
Lawfare exists and is used every day by both those seeking to achieve legitimate ends and those seeking to achieve illegitimate ends. Lawfare is a war worth fighting; failing to fight lawfare could seriously jeopardize your client's interests, and, more importantly, it could jeopardize your ability to help bring an end to a violent conflict or prosecute those responsible for crimes committed during a conflict.

There are three similarities between legal mechanisms and processes and warfare that I think support the notion that lawfare is a useful concept. The first is that they often pursue the same objectives; the second is that they have a broadly similar approach for accomplishing these objectives – strategic, operational, and tactical; and the third is that lawfare, as part of a conflict resolution approach, is often times fought before the hot conflict, during the hot conflict, and the hot conflict.

Number of Pages in PDF File: 9

Keywords: lawfare, international law

JEL Classification: N40

Accepted Paper Series