Massacres and Morality

Mass Atrocities in an Age of Civilian Immunity
1. Auflage 2012
ISBN: 978-0-19-928842-7
Verlag: Oxford University Press

Buch, Englisch, 460 Seiten, Format (B × H): 167 mm x 244 mm, Gewicht: 824 g

Most cultural and legal codes agree that the intentional killing of civilians, whether in peacetime or war, is prohibited. This is the norm of civilian immunity, widely considered to be a fundamental moral and legal principle. Yet despite this fact, the deliberate killing of large numbers of civilians remains a persistent feature of global political life. What is more, the perpetrators have often avoided criticism and punishment. Examining dozens of episodes of mass
killing perpetrated by states since the French Revolution late eighteenth century, this book attempts to explain this paradox. It studies the role that civilian immunity has played in shaping the behaviour of perpetrators and how international society has responded to mass killing. The book argues
that although the world has made impressive progress in legislating against the intentional killing of civilians and in constructing institutions to give meaning to that prohibition, the norm's history in practice suggests that the ascendancy of civilian immunity is both more recent and more fragile than might otherwise be thought. In practice, decisions to violate a norm are shaped by factors relating to the norm and the situation at hand, so too is the manner in which international society
and individual states respond to norm violations. Responses to norm violations are not simply matters of normative obligation or calculations of self-interest but are instead guided by a combination of these logics as well as perceptions about the situation at hand, existing relations with the actors
involved, and power relations between actors holding different accounts of the situation. Thus, whilst civilian immunity has for the time being prevailed over 'anti-civilian ideologies' which seek to justify mass killing, it remains challenged by these ideologies and its implementation shaped by individual circumstances. As a result, whilst it has become much more difficult for states to get away with mass murder, it is still not entirely impossible for them to do so.

Zielgruppe

Scholars and students of political science, international relations, and political philosophy.

Autoren/Hrsg.

Bellamy, Alex J.

Fachgebiete

• Geisteswissenschaften Geschichtswissenschaft Geschichtliche Themen Militärgeschichte
• Sozialwissenschaften Politikwissenschaft Politische Gewalt Völkermord, Ethnische Säuberung, Kriegsverbrechen

Inhaltsverzeichnis

Introduction
1: Civilian Immunity and the Politics of Legitimacy
2: State Terror in the Long-Nineteenth Century
3: Totalitarian Mass Killing
4: Terror Bombing in the Second World War
5: The Cold War Struggle (1): Capitalist Atrocities
6: The Cold War Struggle (2): Communist Atrocities
7: Atrocities and the 'Golden Age' of Humanitarianism
8: Radical Islamism and the War on Terror
Conclusion

Über Autor(innen)

Bellamy, Alex J.
Alex J. Bellamy he served as Executive Director of the Asia Pacific Centre for the Responsibility to Protect from 2007-2010, and before that as Professor of International Relations at The University of Queensland. Before moving to Australia, he taught Defence Studies for King's College London at the UK's Joint Services Command and Staff College.