Introduction -- The Changing Legal Spectrum of Conflict -- International manuals and international law -- Interacting technologies and legal challenge -- Weapons law and future conflict -- Legal implications of emerging approaches to war -- People and the Legal Spectrum of Conflict -- Detention operations: Legal safeguards for internees -- The law of armed conflict and human rights law -- Making sense of the human rights law/law of armed conflict conundrum - a practical proposal -- War in the spotlight -- Bringing the strands together.

In this, the second decade of the 21st Century, the law relating to conflict is confronted by a number of challenges this book seeks to identify and to discuss. Topics as diverse as the evolving spectrum of conflict, innovations in weaponry, automated and autonomous attack, the depersonalisation of warfare, detention operations, the influence of modern media and the application of human rights law to the conduct of hostilities are examined to see to what extent existing legal norms are under attack. The book takes each topic in turn, explains relevant provisions of contemporary law and analyses exactly where the legal problem lies. The analysis then develops the theme, examining for example the implications of current rules as to deception operations for certain applications of cyber warfare. The book, written in an accessible style, demonstrates the continuing relevance of established rules and the importance of compliance with them. It is a valuable tool for further discussion and research involving academics, military lawyers and commanders, governments, ministries of defence and foreign affairs, libraries, diplomats, think tanks, policy units, NGOs, journalists, students and all others with an interest in law of armed conflict issues.   Dr William H. Boothby is the Former Deputy Director of Legal Services, Royal Air Force, United Kingdom.