The Geneva Conventions and the Third World - Srinivas Burra

Law and the Future of War

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In this episode, Dr Simon McKenzie talks with Associate Professor Srinivas Burra about the Third World and the Geneva Conventions. They discuss the value of taking a Third World perspective of international law, and how being attentive to the view from these State helps explain the form and operation of international humanitarian law.

Srinivas Burra is an Associate Professor of Law at South Asian University in New Delhi. He has written on the Geveva Conventions, teaches international humanitarian law, and has worked with the ICRC and other international organisations.

Further reading

• Srinivas Burra, 'Four Geneva Conventions of 1949: a Third World View.' Revisiting the Geneva Conventions: 1949-2019 (Brill Nijhoff, 2019) 190-214.
• Boyd Van Dijk, Preparing for War: The Making of the 1949 Geneva Conventions (Oxford University Press, 2022).
• Antony Anghie, Imperialism, sovereignty and the making of international law (Cambridge University Press, 2007).
• Giovanni Mantilla, Lawmaking Under Pressure: International Humanitarian Law and Internal Armed Conflict (Cornell University Press, 2020)
• Legality of the Threat or Use of Nuclear Weapons (Advisory Opinion) [1996] ICJ 3, Dissenting Opinion of Judge Weeramantry
• Chris Jochnick and Roger Normand, “The Legitimation of Violence: A Critical History of the Laws of War” (1994) 35(1) Harvard International Law Journal 49-95.
• Chris Jochnick and Roger Normand, “The Legitimation of Violence: A Critical Analysis of the Gulf War” (1994) 35(2) Harvard International Law Journal 387-416.