The Use of force in Contemporary International Law

Pokušaje ograničenja u pogledu započinjanja i vođenja ratova, prije svega kroz učenje o pravednom ratu, moguće je pratiti već u srednjovjekovnoj teoriji međunarodnog prava, prije svega kroz djela Tome Akvinskog i Svetog Augustina. Njihovi su pogledi bili putokaz kasnijim autorima, no u posljednjih stotinu i više godina značajan je razvoj ideje o odbacivanju rata kao sredstva državne politike kao i o potpunoj zabrani upotrebe sile u međunarodnom pravu. Takve su ideje pronašle realizaciju u Briand-Kellogovom paktu kao i u Povelji Ujedinjenih naroda, koja u pogledu zabrane upotrebe sile predviđa iznimku glede upotrebe sile u samoobrani prema čl. 51. Povelje. Sukus je ovog rada obrada navedenih zabrana, pokušaja njihovih zaobilaženja kao i razmatranja o doktrinama kojima njihovi proponenti teže proširenju prava na samoobranu.Attempts at limitations regarding declarations and waging of war, primarily through the just war theory, can be traced back to the medieval theory of international law, above all the works of Thomas Aquinas and Saint Augustine. Their views served as a foundation for later authors, but no significant developments of the idea of the rejection of war as a means of state policy as well as the idea of the complete prohibition of the use of force have been made in the field of international law in the following hundred years or more. The Kellogg–Briand Pact and the United Nations Charter saw the realisation of these ideas, though the latter contains an exception in the prohibition of the use of force in case of self-defense, as set out in Article 51 of the Charter. This paper is focused on the analysis of the said prohibitions, attempts at circumventing the prohibitions, and the examination of the doctrines advocated by the proponents of the expansion of the right of self-defense