Skip to main content Accessibility help
×
Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-94fs2 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-07T19:20:11.299Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

2 - Defining Occupation

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  12 September 2012

Peter M. R. Stirk
Affiliation:
University of Durham
Get access

Summary

The definition of military occupation has been disputed in terms of the core meaning ascribed to it and even in terms of the appropriateness of the term itself, with some commentators preferring the term ‘belligerent occupation’, in continuation of the Roman idea of occupatio bellica. Where such preference has been expressed, it has been acknowledged that there are other types of military occupation. That same preference and concession is repeated in the British Manual of the Law of Armed Conflict, according to which ‘classically, this [belligerent occupation] refers to the occupation of enemy territory, that is, when a belligerent in an armed conflict is in control of some of the adversary's territory and is directly responsible for administering that territory’. This manual includes occupation of neutral territory during wartime in belligerent occupation, but excludes liberation of allied territory, international administration of territory under such organisations as the United Nations and the presence of armed forces in another state in accordance with some treaty or agreement. Obviously, the core meaning ascribed to occupation will affect the extent of the range of types of occupation, with belligerent occupation suggesting a narrower range than the more expansive term military occupation. Yet the two issues, of the core meaning and the range of types of occupation, have not received the same consistency of attention. The first systematic study of military occupation beyond war, by Raymond Robin, was not published until 1913.

Type
Chapter
Information
Publisher: Edinburgh University Press
Print publication year: 2009

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Save book to Kindle

To save this book to your Kindle, first ensure [email protected] is added to your Approved Personal Document E-mail List under your Personal Document Settings on the Manage Your Content and Devices page of your Amazon account. Then enter the ‘name’ part of your Kindle email address below. Find out more about saving to your Kindle.

Note you can select to save to either the @free.kindle.com or @kindle.com variations. ‘@free.kindle.com’ emails are free but can only be saved to your device when it is connected to wi-fi. ‘@kindle.com’ emails can be delivered even when you are not connected to wi-fi, but note that service fees apply.

Find out more about the Kindle Personal Document Service.

Available formats
×

Save book to Dropbox

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Dropbox.

Available formats
×

Save book to Google Drive

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

Available formats
×