Janina Dill

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). 

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. 

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 Israel, Journal 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 Statman, Law 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 Law, American 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)