Professorial Fellow in Global Security

Janina Dill

  • I am the Dame Louise Richardson Chair in Global Security.
  • My research concerns the role of law and morality in international relations, specifically in war.
  • I enjoy that students are excited about better understanding the world.
  • I study the perceptions of conflict affected populations, including in Iraq, Gaza and Ukraine.

Profile

My research concerns the role of law and morality in international relations, specifically in war. I develop legal and philosophical theories about how international law can be an instrument of morality in war, albeit an imperfect one. I also study how normative considerations shape public opinion on the use of force and the attitudes of conflict-affected populations. I currently work amongst others on projects concerning Ukraine, Gaza, and Iraq. I also co-convene a multi-year research study on the better projection of civilians in war in my role as Co-Director of the Oxford Institute for Ethics, Law and Armed Conflict (ELAC). 

Teaching

I mostly teach graduate students in the Blavatnik School of Government in subjects related to Global Security. I co-convene the core course The Politics of Policymaking and I supervise DPhil students on topics related to law and ethics of armed conflict. 

Selected Publications

Janina Dill, Marnie Howlett, Carl Müller-Crepon. 2023. At Any Cost: How Ukrainians Think about Self-Defense Against Russia, American Journal of Political Science, forthcoming.

Janina Dill, 2023. Threats to State Survival as Emergencies in International Law, International Theory, Vol. 15 (2), pp. 155-183.

Janina Dill, Scott D. Sagan, Benjamin A. Valentino, 2023, Public Opinion and the Nuclear Taboo Across Nations: An Exchange – The Authors Reply, Security Studies, Vol. 31 (1), pp. 195-204. 



Janina Dill, Scott Sagan, Benjamin Valentino, 2022. Inconstant Care: Public Attitudes towards Force Protection and Civilian Casualties in the United States, United Kingdom and IsraelJournal of Conflict Resolution, Vol. 67(4) 587–616. 

Janina Dill and Cécile Fabre, 2022. Introduction to a Symposium on War by Agreement: A Contractarian Ethics of War by Yizthak Benbaji and Daniel StatmanLaw and Philosophy, Vo. 41, pp. 663-669. 

Janina Dill, Scott Sagan, Benjamin Valentino, 2022. A Kettle of Hawks: Public Opinion on the Nuclear Taboo and Non-Combatant Immunity in the United States, United Kingdom, France, and Israel, Security Studies, Vol. 31 (1), pp. 1-31.

Janina Dill and Livia I. Schubiger, 2021. Attitudes toward the Use of Force: Instrumental Imperatives, Moral Principles and International LawAmerican Journal of Political Science, Vol. 65 (3), pp. 612-633.

Ziv Bohrer, Janina Dill, Helen Duffy. 2020. Law Applicable to Armed Conflict (2020)

Janina Dill, 2019. Distinction, Necessity and Proportionality: Afghan Civilians' Attitudes Towards Wartime Harm, Ethics and International Affairs, Vol. 33 (3), pp. 315-342. 

Janina Dill, 2019. Do Attackers have a Legal Duty of Care? Limits to the 'Individualisation of War'International Theory, Vol. 11 (1), pp. 1-25. 

Janina Dill. 2015. Legitimate Targets? International Law, Social Construction and US Bombing (Cambridge University Press)