Janina Dill

Junior Research Fellow in Socio-Legal Studies

 

 

janina.dill [at] csls [dot] ox [dot] ac [dot] uk

01865 284248

Qualifications

• DPhil in International Relations (University of Oxford, UK)
• MPhil (Distinction) in International Relations (University of Cambridge, UK)
• BA with Honors – Majors: International Law and Politics; Minors: Contemporary History and Economics (TU Dresden, Germany)

 

Biography and current research

Janina is a Junior Research Fellow at Wolfson College Oxford and an Associate Fellow of the Oxford Institute for Ethics, Law and Armed Conflict.

Her research focuses on international law in war, specifically its philosophical foundations and normative scope. She currently studies moral agency and individual legal responsibility in combat operations. Do the choices that individual agents at different levels of the chain of command face match the assumptions about moral agency underlying the law that criminalizes unlawful attack?

Janina is also currently working on turning her DPhil thesis into a book. This project investigates from an interdisciplinary point of view whether air warfare can be effectively regulated by international law. Each part of the project makes an original contribution to a contemporary debate in one of three fields: international humanitarian law, international relations theory and practical ethics.

Furthermore, Janina is interested in and has previously worked on the emergence and demise of states in international law and the legal and political challenges associated with state failure, state building and self-determination.

 

Research interests

• International humanitarian law & international criminal law
• Philosophy of international law
• Ethics of war, just war theory
• Law and morality in international relations theory, specifically constructivism
• The emergence and demise of states in international law

 

Teaching and supervision interests

• Public international law
• International law of armed conflict
• Theory, methods and history of international relations
• The development of war and military affairs
• State failure, state building and self-determination

 

Publications 

Journal Articles

• “Should international law ensure the moral acceptability of war?” in: The Leiden Journal of International Law, forthcoming
• With Henry Shue, “Limiting killing in War: Military necessity and the St Petersburg assumption” in: Ethics and International Affairs, forthcoming
• “The Definition of a legitimate target of attack: Not more than a moral plea?” in: Proceedings of Annual Meeting (American Society of International Law), Vol. 103, 2009, pp. 229-232

 

Book Chapters

• Puntland’s declaration of autonomy and Somaliland’s secession: two quests for self-governance in a failed state, in: Marc Weller and Katherine Nobbs (eds.), Asymmetric autonomy and the settlement of ethnic conflicts (Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 2010)
• With Nicolas Lamp: Staatszerfall als neue außenpolitische Herausforderung, in: Arne Niemann (ed.), Herausforderungen an die deutsche und europäische Außenpolitik – Analysen und Politikempfehlungen (Dresden: TUDpress, 2005)

 

Policy Briefs

• Applying the principle of proportionality in combat operations, policy briefing (Oxford: Oxford Institute for Ethics and Law of Armed Conflict, December 2010)

http://www.elac.ox.ac.uk/downloads/proportionality_policybrief_%20dec_2010.pdf

• The United States’ battle with collateral damage in Afghanistan, policy brief (Oxford: Oxford Analytica – Global Analysis and Advisory, August 2009)
• The principle of proportionality in the conduct of war, policy brief (Oxford: Oxford Analytica – Global Analysis and Advisory, February 2009)

 

Selected Conference Papers 

• Contributions to a constructivist theory of international law, paper to be presented at the British International Studies Association and the International Studies Association Joint International Conference, 21 June 2012 (Edinburgh, UK)
• Responsibility in the laws of war: Between criminal liability and truncated moral agency, paper presented at the Annual Convention of the International Studies Association, 3 April 2012 (San Diego, CA)
• Changing war, not law, paper presented at the Third Annual ELAC Workshop 2011, 1 September 2011 (Oxford, UK)
• Efficiency versus necessity: Two logics of air targeting, paper presented at the conference “Bombing: How Legal and Ethical Norms Change”, Mario Einaudi Center for International Studies at Cornell University, 8 April 2011 (Ithaca, NY)
• The definition of a legitimate target of attack: not more than a moral plea?, paper presented at the Annual Convention of the American Society for International Law, 26 March 2009 (Washington DC) [published - see above]
• International humanitarian law, individual responsibility and the rule of law in war, paper presented at the Annual Convention of the International Studies Association, 15 February 2009 (New York, NY)
• The influence of law on U.S. air targeting practices in the two Gulf Wars, paper presented at the International Society for Military Ethics Annual Conference, 29 January 2009 (San Diego, CA)
• Precautionary measures in attack: A legally warranted moral hazard?, paper presented at the Annual Convention of the British International Studies Association, 17 December 2008 (Exeter, UK) and presented at the Annual Convention of the International Studies Association, 16 February 2009 (New York, NY)
• US Air Force targeting since the end of the Cold War, paper presented at the conference “Human Rights at War: A Comparative Study”, Peace Studies Program and the Einaudi Center for International Studies at Cornell University, 9 November 2007 (Ithaca, NY)