War, International Law and the Rise of Parliament

Abstract

In foreign relations law, the power to wage war is inherently an executive power. 1 It is the government that declares war or sends the military forces into battle. Yet, increasingly, the prerogative to engage in military action has been open to scrutiny by domestic parliaments. This trend was first noted in 1990, when Lori Damrosch argued that there was a trend 'towards parliamentary control over the decision to introduce troops into situations of actual or potential hostilities'. 2 In relation to the Gulf War she noted a 'striking pattern of parliamentary approvals for decisions to commit military support, including votes in the US Congress, the French Assemble ´e nationale, and the