Annexation: a threat that never fades
Journal: Journal of Conflict and Security Law
Year: 2026

Abstract This article examines the doctrinal stability and practical fragility of the international legal prohibition of annexation and evaluates how the UN Charter system has operated against annexation in practice. It clarifies the taxonomy of annexation—distinguishing de jure and de facto annexation from belligerent occupation—and traces the sources grounding the non-acquisition rule and the corresponding duties of non-recognition and non-assistance. Building on Brunk and Hakimi’s argument th