Unilateral Preemptive Self-Defense, Has Its Time Arrived: Assessing the International Legality of Unilateral Preemptive Self-Defense in the 2002 National Security Strategy
Abstract
In September 2002, President Bush published his first National Security Strategy (NSS) to the U.S. Congress. In this strategy, the President asserted a new doctrine of unilateral preemptive self-defense, arguing that this new doctrine is needed to adequately defend a nation against the capabilities and objectives of today's enemies. This new right of preemptive self-defense would be authorized against rogue states and terrorist organizations that attempt to obtain weapons of mass destruction. Although the current right of self-defense is not universally defined, most international scholars agree the right extends to action taken in self-defense before an armed attack has occurred, if the armed attack is imminent, and the use of force in self-defense is both necessary and proportionate. The Caroline incident of the mid-1800's established the limits of imminence, necessity, and proportionality for the use of self-defense. The NSS argues that the definition of imminent must be expanded to threats that are more distant or merely foreseeable to account for the drastic change in technology since the Caroline incident. Because of the technology in the mid-1800's, a state that was about to be attacked would be able to adequately defend itself because of the time it took the attacking state to place troops and equipment along its borders. Additionally, because weapons had a limited capacity for destruction, the attacked state would still have the ability to defend itself against an attack that was about to start or had just started. However, current technology allows a rogue state or terrorist organization to attack without warning and the destructive capability of weapons of mass destruction could easily ensure the attacked state will not be able to respond to defend itself. This paper reviews the right of self-defense as it has evolved over time, culminating in the right as expressed in Article 51 of the United Nations Charter.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Aug 31, 2003
- Accession Number
- ADA418804
Entities
People
- Jennifer L. Smith
Organizations
- George Washington University