Introduction

After the Cold War, the risk of high intensity military confrontation on a global scale significantly diminished. At the same time, however, perhaps even more frequently, military means were used in internal conflicts, particularly in local competition between different ethnic or religious communities, often labelled as ‘new wars’. ¹ Furthermore, one of the consequences of accelerating globalisation was the emergence of new opportunities for using force in international relations, particularly by non-state entities or small and weak states. The increasing wave of terrorism in recent decades provides ample evidence for that.