ABSTRACT
This chapter focuses on the strategy forming part of the War on Terror that is of more concern to inter- rather than intra-state conduct and relations: the policy of using pre-emptive strikes against States harbouring or assisting terrorists and associated entities. One of the noted criticisms of a restrictive approach to self-defence is that no State should be expected to await an initial attack before it may take defensive measures. The adoption of the United Nations Charter saw the creation of a peremptory norm of customary international law, excluding the unilateral use of force except where a State is actually attacked, and establishing compensatory mechanisms through the UN Security Council to deal with imminent or other threats to the peace. The anticipatory self-defence has been recognized as requiring necessity and proportionality. Much debate on the question of anticipatory self-defence arose during the Cold War, at a time when considerable tension existed between the USA and the USSR.
