Dr Onder Bakircioglu

I have been working as an Associate Professor in Law at the University of Leicester since 2014, previously holding a position of Lecturer in Law at Queen’s University Belfast (QUB) between 2008 and 2014. My research focuses on public international law and human rights law in general, and the use of force and the just war tradition in particular. Reflecting my interest in interdisciplinary research, my works draw from scholarship across law, history, international relations, politics, and philosophy.

My research has generally both theoretical and clear policy-relevant dimensions concerning such matters as the balance between individual freedoms and societal interests, use of force, conflict resolution, multiculturalism, just war doctrine, radicalism, and terrorism. My academic works aim at stimulating interdisciplinary dialogue within academia while reaching out to policymakers, civil society organisations, and the general public.

Selected Publications

Books

• Islam and Warfare: Context and Compatibility with Modern International Law (London: Routledge, 2014–paperback ed., November 2016)
• Self-Defence in International and Criminal Law: The doctrine of Imminence (London: Routledge, 2011–paperback ed., March 2013)

Articles

• "The Use of Force in International Law” in: Sergey Sayapin (ed.) International Conflict and Security Law (T. M. C. Asser Press, forthcoming, 2022)
• “Disputed Bounds of Muslim Warfare,” 24 (3) (2019) Journal of Conflict and Security Law 1-31
• “The European Convention in Conflicted Societies: The Experience of Northern Ireland and Turkey” (2017) 66 International and Comparative Law Quarterly 263-294 (with Prof. Brice Dickson)
• “Germany v Italy: The Triumph of Sovereign Immunity over Human Rights Law,” (2012) 1 International Human Rights Law Review 93-109
• “A Socio-Legal Analysis of Jihad” (2010) 59 International and Comparative Law Quarterly 413-440
• “The Future of Preventive Wars: The Case of Iraq” (2009) 30 Third World Quarterly 1297-1316
• “The Right to Self-Defence in National and International Law: The Role of the Imminence Requirement” 2009 (19) Indiana International & Comparative Law Review 1-49
• “Freedom of Expression and Hate Speech” 2008 (16) Tulsa Journal of Comparative & International Law 1-50
• “The Contours of the Right to Self-Defence: Is the Requirement of Imminence Merely a Translator for the Concept of Necessity?” (2008) 72 The Journal of Criminal Law 131-169
• “The Application of the Margin of Appreciation Doctrine in Freedom of Expression and Public Morality Cases” (2007) 8 German Law Journal 711-734

• Use of Force in International Law
• Targeted Killings
• Just War
• Freedom of Expression and Hate Speech
• Terrorism
• Security and Human Rights

• Constitutional and Administrative Law
• General Principles of Public International Law
• The Use of Force in International Law
• Human Rights and Human Wrongs: Core Principles

Use of Force, Targeted Killings, Religion and War, Security and Human Rights