Security and Law
Security and Law

We help global leaders navigate legal complexities in the evolving security landscape and make them more effective at mastering legal constraints and opportunities.

Security affairs are increasingly intertwined with legal complexities. Moreover, dynamics in global politics and technological developments often require rethinking traditional legal solutions. Experts, practitioners and stakeholders thus experience a growing need for guidance at the intersection of security policy and international law. The Security and Law Programme at the GCSP aims to address this need in a comprehensive manner. It adopts a policy-oriented approach that relates legal considerations to practical realities. Our core mission is to:

  • identify emerging issues in the security realm;
  • clarify their legal framework for strategic and operational decision-making;
  • bridge the gap between research and practice;
  • foster solutions-oriented policy analysis.

Mindful of such challenge, our executive courses try to answer a twofold demand: on the one side, building capacity to effectively implement international commitments while facing security threats; on the other, providing tools to successfully shape new international law governing security affairs.

The Symposium for Senior NATO/PfP Legal Advisors (SSL) unites on an annual basis the Chief Legal Advisers of the NATO system as well as of the Ministries of Defence and Armed Forces of NATO member states and states of the Partnership for Peace to discuss current legal challenges facing NATO and partners. It is designed to provide a collegial venue for an impartial and frank exchange at strategic level and in a confidential setting.

Security and Law: A Reality Check is the event series to address how international law matters in security affairs. It aims to critically assess if current norms fit contemporary and future security challenges, how international commitments can effectively be implemented, and how new international law can successfully be shaped. Reality Checks feature a new GCSP format: The audience attending the event is encouraged to steer the discussion by challenging the speakers and experts.

 

Past events