Killing Civilians in Civil War: The Rationale of Indiscriminate Violence

Brandsch, Jürgen

ISBN 10: 1626378630 / ISBN 13: 9781626378636

Published by First Forum Pr, 2020

About this Item

239 pages. 9.00x6.00x0.75 inches. In Stock.

Seller Inventory # __1626378630

Bibliographic Details

• Title: Killing Civilians in Civil War: The Rationale of Indiscriminate Violence
• Publisher: First Forum Pr
• Publication Date: 2020
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 1626378630
• ISBN 13: 9781626378636
• Binding: Hardcover
• Condition: Brand New
• Weight: 0.48 kilograms

About this title

Synopsis

“Provides both a comprehensive survey of scholarship on violence against civilians and a plausible theory to help explain why armed actors target civilians with violence.” ―Carrie Manning, The Journal of Social Encounters

Conventional wisdom tells us that targeting civilians in civil wars makes little sense as a combat strategy. Yet, the indiscriminate violence continues. Why?

To tackle this vexing question, Jürgen Brandsch looks closely at the on-the-ground impact of indiscriminate violence―and what he finds shows that there often is, in fact, a method to the madness. Making the provocative argument that slaughtering innocent civilians may be rational behavior on the part of the perpetrators, Brandsch provides an important piece in the puzzle of how to understand, and ultimately prevent, such atrocities.

CONTENTS:

• Targeting Civilians in Civil Wars.
• WHAT DO WE KNOW ABOUT INDISCRIMINATE VIOLENCE?
• State Use of Indiscriminate Violence.
• Nonstate Use of Indiscriminate Violence.
• Conceptual Building Blocks.
• A Theory of Group-Selective Violence.
• HOW DOES INDISCRIMINATE VIOLENCE WORK IN PRACTICE?
• Assessing the Effects of Indiscriminate Violence.
• Group-Selective Violence Across History.
• Violence Against Civilians in Ethnic Wars.
• CONCLUSION.
• Does Group-Selective Violence Work?

About the Author

Jürgen Brandsch is the head of the Project on Small Arms and Light Weapons Control at the Bonn International Center for Conversion.