Why They Die: Civilian Devastation in Violent Conflict - Softcover

Rothbart, Daniel; Korostelina, Karina

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0472035584 ISBN 13: 9780472035588

Publisher: University of Michigan Press, 2013

Synopsis

Why do civilians suffer most during times of violent conflict? Why are civilian fatalities as much as eight times higher, calculated globally for current conflicts, than military fatalities? In Why They Die, Daniel Rothbart and Karina V. Korostelina address these questions through a systematic study of civilian devastation in violent conflicts. Pushing aside the simplistic definition of war as a guns-and-blood battle between two militant groups, the authors investigate the identity politics underlying conflicts of many types. During a conflict, all those on the opposite side are perceived as the enemy, with little distinction between soldiers and civilians. As a result, random atrocities and systematic violence against civilian populations become acceptable.

Rothbart and Korostelina devote the first half of the book to case studies: deportation of the Crimean Tatars from the Ukraine, genocide in Rwanda, the Lebanon War, and the war in Iraq. With the second half, they present new methodological tools for understanding different types of violent conflict and discuss the implications of these tools for conflict resolution.

About this title

About the Author

Daniel Rothbart is Professor of Conflict Analysis and Resolution at George Mason University’s School for Conflict Analysis and Resolution.

Karina V. Korostelina is Associate Professor and Director of the Program on History, Memory, and Conflict at George Mason University’s School for Conflict Analysis and Resolution.

Edition details

• Publisher: University of Michigan Press
• Publication date: 2013
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0472035584
• ISBN 13: 9780472035588
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 224