The 1946 Nuremberg Charter introduced the novel concept of "crimes against peace," which included wars of aggression. The idea originated with a Soviet jurist - ironically, given that in February 2022 Russia launched a war of aggression against Ukraine. But didn't the United States launch a war of aggression against Iraq in 2003, and Iran in 2026? Significantly, neither Russia nor the US concedes that their wars are aggressive. In this talk, Dr. David Luban (Georgetown University) will walk through the basics of international law concerning the crime of aggression, flagging some of the unresolved legal issues: is a preventive war "aggression"? Who can be prosecuted for aggression? Which, if any, courts are authorized to try the crime of aggression?
About Our Speaker
David Luban is Distinguished University Professor at Georgetown University Law
Center. A philosopher by training, his research interests include legal and military ethics, international criminal law, human rights and the rule of law in backsliding democracies. His books include Lawyers and Justice: An Ethical Study, Legal Modernism, Legal Ethics and Human Dignity and the award-winning Torture, Power and Law. His most recent book is Powers of Judgment: Hannah Arendt’s Moral and Legal Philosophy (Cambridge University Press, 2026).
Luban is co-author of the textbooks Legal Ethics (9th edition) and International and Transnational Criminal Law (4th edition). From 2013 to 2025, he held the Distinguished Chair in Ethics at the Stockdale Center for Ethical Leadership, United States Naval Academy. He is a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, a Distinguished Fellow of the National Institute for Military Justice, a Guggenheim fellow and recipient of the 2022 M.C. Bassiouni Justice Award for contributions to the study of core international crimes. Luban is founding editor of Just Security.