Legality of Anticipatory Self-Defense in Contemporary International Law.

There has been a lot of debate as to the validity of anticipatory self-defense in international law in the current world. Anticipatory self-defense can be portrayed in an instance in which a state uses force against an imminent armed attack. This premise, therefore, seeks to examine in detail the jurisprudential debate on this topic and also examine some of the important state practices and International Court of Justice (ICJ) cases and how they relate to the standards that were set by the Caroline Doctrine in 1837. The study determined that it was difficult to determine whether or not most state practices can be classified as self-defense. The ICJ, on the other hand, has also never admitted the legality of anticipatory self-defense. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]