Ka Lok’s book is an overhaul of the long-standing debate over the relationship among different provisions of international law regulating the use of force against individuals in war.

“I owe it to the Institute for the opportunity to train in multiple disciplines”, Ka Lok noted. “When I started using the agent-structure problem I learnt in International Relations/Political Science to look at the legal contentions, I realised that what people disagreed about was a matter of social ontology: what exists in society.”

Satisfied with neither the traditional approach to legal doctrinal analysis, nor the dominant critical scholarship, Ka Lok developed what she named the ‘social ontological approach’. 

“The social ontological approach dives into the social ontological visions harboured by different protagonists to show how they contradict the visions embedded in the law and ultimately defeat its purpose”, she explained.

The Francis Lieber Prize is awarded annually by the American Society of International Law's Lieber Society on the Law of Armed Conflict to authors of outstanding publications in the field of law and armed conflict. A jury consisting of serving military personnel and civilian academics is responsible for making the selection. 

“It gives me hope to know that a book written with a sincere heart, without any intellectual posturing to fit within any established genre, could speak to such a diverse audience”, Ka Lok commented. “None of this would have been possible without the two extremely open-minded intellectuals by whom I have had the fortune to be supervised - Professor Andrew Clapham and Professor Thomas Biersteker. Thank you Professors!”

Learn more about The Use of Force against Individuals in War under International Law – a Social Ontological Approach, published by Oxford University Press. 

Photo credit: Hamad Bin Kalifa University College of Law.