Janina Dill

My research concerns international law on the use of force, how it is interpreted, how it shapes decision-making in and about war, and how it structures global security more broadly. I also study how normative considerations shape public opinion on the use of force and the attitudes of conflict-affected populations. I currently work 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. 

Greeted as Liberators? How Americans Think About U.S. Military Intervention, Foreign Affairs, 2026

Mind the Deterrence Gap: Assessing Europe's Nuclear Options, with Tobias Bunde, James W. Davis, Claudia Major, Janina Dill, Héloïse Fayet, Liviu Horovitz, Łukasz Kulesa, Andreas Lutsch, Michal Onderco, Jintro Pauly, Julian Wucherpfennig, Munich Security Conference & European Nuclear Studies Group, 2026

Janina Dill, Emily Meyers and Livia Schubiger. 2026. A Matter of Principle: The Role of Consent in U.S. Support for Military Intervention, International Security, Vol. 50 (3), pp. 55-85.

Janina Dill, Marnie Howlett and Carl Müller-Crepon. 2026. Do Ukrainians Still Prefer Self-Defense at Any Cost? Journal of Peace Research, Vol. 63 (2), pp. 269–278.

Janina Dill and Scott Sagan. 2025. Creeds and Contestation: How U.S. Nuclear and Legal Doctrines Influence Each Other, Security Studies, Vol. 43 (5), pp. 833-867.

Tom Dannenbaum and Janina Dill. 2024. International Law in Gaza: Belligerent Intent and Provisional Measures, American Journal of International Law, Vo. 118 (4), pp. 659-683.

Janina Dill, Marnie Howlett, Carl Müller-Crepon. 2024. At Any Cost: How Ukrainians Think about Self-Defense Against Russia, American Journal of Political Science, Vol. 68 (4), pp. 1460-1478.

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)