Date: 2016
Type: Contribution to book
Civilians, distinction, and the compassionate view of war
Haidi WILLMOT, Ralph MAMIYA, Scott SHEERAN and Marc WELLER (eds), Protection of civilians, Oxford : Oxford University Press, 2016, pp. 11-28[IOW]
SLIM, Hugo, Civilians, distinction, and the compassionate view of war, in Haidi WILLMOT, Ralph MAMIYA, Scott SHEERAN and Marc WELLER (eds), Protection of civilians, Oxford : Oxford University Press, 2016, pp. 11-28[IOW] - https://hdl.handle.net/1814/61327
Retrieved from Cadmus, EUI Research Repository
This chapter examines the ethical background of the compassionate view of war as it is epitomized in the ‘doctrine of civilians’ that has emerged in modern times, and the distinction between those who fight and those who do not. It explores the two traditions of ruthless and limited war and the strong rhetorical and operational emergence of compassion and restraint in international society in modern history. It also considers the victimhood and agency that characterizes the civilian experience of war to see how this can cause ethical and legal ambiguity that rightly queries a simplistic notion of distinction, going on to examine why most war ideologues still opt for a more ruthless form of violence than the espoused norm, and how that poses ethical and legal problems for the wider project of restraint. Finally, it argues for continued normative and legal consolidation around the ethics of compassionate war.
Additional information:
Published online: June 2016
Cadmus permanent link: https://hdl.handle.net/1814/61327
Full-text via DOI: 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198729266.003.0002
ISBN: 9780198729266
Series/Number: [IOW]
Grant number: FP7/340956/EU
Sponsorship and Funder information:
The research leading to these results has received funding from the European Research Council under the European Union’s Seventh Framework Programme (FP/2007-2013) / ERC Grant Agreement No 340956 - IOW - The Individualisation of War: Reconfiguring the Ethics, Law, and Politics of Armed Conflict.
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