
Prohibiting Plunder
How Norms Change
Wayne Sandholtz(Author)
Oxford University Press Inc
Published on 29. November 2007
Book
Hardback
352 pages
978-0-19-533723-5 (ISBN)
Description
For much of history, the rules of war decreed that "to the victor go the spoils." The winners in warfare routinely seized for themselves the artistic and cultural treasures of the defeated; plunder constituted a marker of triumph. By the twentieth century, international norms declared the opposite, that cultural monuments should be shielded from destruction or seizure. Prohibiting Plunder traces and explains the emergence of international rules against wartime looting of cultural treasures, and explores how anti-plunder norms have developed over the past 200 years. The book covers highly topical events including the looting of thousands of antiquities from the Iraqi National Museum in Baghdad, and the return of "Holocaust Art" by prominent museums, including the highly publicized return of five Klimt paintings from the Austrian Gallery to a Holocaust survivor.
The historical narrative includes first-hand reports, official documents, and archival records. Equally important, the book uncovers the debates and negotiations that produced increasingly clear and well-defined anti-plunder norms. The historical accounts in Prohibiting Plunder serve as confirming examples of an important dynamic of international norm change. Rules evolve in cycles; in each cycle, specific actions trigger arguments about the meaning and application of rules, and those arguments in turn modify the rules. International norms evolve through a succession of such cycles, each one drawing on previous developments and each one reshaping the normative context for subsequent actions and disputes. Prohibiting Plunder shows how historical episodes interlinked to produce modern, treaty-based rules against wartime plunder of cultural treasures.
The historical narrative includes first-hand reports, official documents, and archival records. Equally important, the book uncovers the debates and negotiations that produced increasingly clear and well-defined anti-plunder norms. The historical accounts in Prohibiting Plunder serve as confirming examples of an important dynamic of international norm change. Rules evolve in cycles; in each cycle, specific actions trigger arguments about the meaning and application of rules, and those arguments in turn modify the rules. International norms evolve through a succession of such cycles, each one drawing on previous developments and each one reshaping the normative context for subsequent actions and disputes. Prohibiting Plunder shows how historical episodes interlinked to produce modern, treaty-based rules against wartime plunder of cultural treasures.
Reviews / Votes
Sandholtz' work makes rewarding reading for political scientists and international lawyers alike for the many thoughts that it provokes. * Ingo Venzke, European Journal of International Law Vol 19 *More details
Language
English
Place of publication
New York
United States
Target group
College/higher education
Professional and scholarly
Illustrations
12 halftones
Dimensions
Height: 240 mm
Width: 161 mm
Thickness: 23 mm
Weight
693 gr
ISBN-13
978-0-19-533723-5 (9780195337235)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Other editions
Additional editions

E-Book
12/2007
OUP eBook
€50.49
Available for download
Person
Author
Professor of Political ScienceProfessor of Political Science, University of California, Irvine
Content
1: International Norm Change Chapter ; 2: Plunder and the Spoils of Victory Chapter ; 3: Napoleonic Plunder and the Emergence of Norms Chapter ; 4: The International Law Activists: Elaborating Norms in the 19th Century Chapter ; 5: The Great War and the Protection of Art Chapter ; 6: Nazi Plunder: Strengthening the Rules Chapter ; 7: Codifying Norms: Nuremberg and the Hague Chapter ; 8: War in the 1990s: Crimes against Cultural Heritage Chapter ; 9: Repercussions of Nazi Plunder: Internalizing International Norms Chapter ; 10: Baghdad and Beyond Chapter ; 11: Dynamics of International Norm Changel Chapter ; Will also include 4-5 black and white line drawings.