Recalibrating the Threshold of NIAC? Aggregated Intensity and the Risk of Over-Classification

Authors

• Nathan Derejko, University of Manitoba Faculty of LawFollow

Abstract

The proliferation of armed groups poses significant factual and legal challenges to determining the threshold of Non-International Armed Conflict (“NIAC”). In response, a number of academics and practitioners have proposed a “cumulative” approach, under which the intensity of violence generated by multiple armed groups within a defined geographical and temporal context is assessed in the aggregate. This “aggregated intensity” approach departs from the established bilateral, case-by-case methodology inherent in the established Tadić test for NIAC. This paper offers a critical analysis of the “aggregated intensity” approach and its relevance to contemporary determinations of the threshold of NIAC.

Recommended Citation

Nathan Derejko, Recalibrating the Threshold of NIAC? Aggregated Intensity and the Risk of Over-Classification, 70 St. Louis U. L.J. (2026).
Available at: https://scholarship.law.slu.edu/lj/vol70/iss2/6