Prisoners in War
1st Edition
Published on 25. February 2010
Book
Hardback
342 pages
978-0-19-957757-6 (ISBN)
Description
The issue of prisoners in war is a highly timely topic that has received much attention from both scholars and practitioners since the start of the military operations in Afghanistan and Iraq and the ensuing legal and political problems concerning detainees in those conflicts. This book analyses these contemporary problems and challenges against the background of their historical development. It provides a multidisciplinary yet highly coherent perspective on the historical trajectory of legal and ethical norms in this field by integrating the historical analysis of war with a study of the emergence of the modern legal regime of prisoners in war. In doing so, it provides the first comprehensive study of prisoners, detainees and internees in war, covering a broad range of both regular and irregular wars from the crusades to contemporary counterinsurgency campaigns.
The book revolves around two major developments: First, there has been a continuous increase in the political relevance of prisoners in war, in particular since the emergence of POW camps in the nineteenth century. Secondly, and related, the growth in the legal regime pertaining to prisoners had contradictory consequences. Whilst it enhanced the protection of prisoners in regular conflicts, its state-centric bias tends to exclude combatants who do not fit the template of regular inter-state war. Detainees in the 'war on terror' embody both tendencies, the development of which, however, is by no means a novel phenomenon.
This book is a project of the Oxford Leverhulme Programme on the Changing Character of War.
The book revolves around two major developments: First, there has been a continuous increase in the political relevance of prisoners in war, in particular since the emergence of POW camps in the nineteenth century. Secondly, and related, the growth in the legal regime pertaining to prisoners had contradictory consequences. Whilst it enhanced the protection of prisoners in regular conflicts, its state-centric bias tends to exclude combatants who do not fit the template of regular inter-state war. Detainees in the 'war on terror' embody both tendencies, the development of which, however, is by no means a novel phenomenon.
This book is a project of the Oxford Leverhulme Programme on the Changing Character of War.
Reviews / Votes
This book seeks to blend historical and legal perspectives concerning varieties of war captivity and to apply them to ongoing conflicts of the 21st century... Excellent transdiciplinary, transnational scholarship. Clearly written, but not for casual readers. * G.H. Davis, Choice, March 2011 *More details
Language
English
Place of publication
Oxford
United Kingdom
Target group
College/higher education
Professional and scholarly
Scholars and students of international relations, international law, military history, and political philosophy.
Dimensions
Height: 240 mm
Width: 161 mm
Thickness: 23 mm
Weight
681 gr
ISBN-13
978-0-19-957757-6 (9780199577576)
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
Person
Sibylle Scheipers is Director of Studies of the Changing Character of War Programme at Oxford University. Before joining the Programme, she held a post-doctoral fellowship at Chatham House, London. She holds a PhD and an M.A. degree from Humboldt University, Berlin.
Content
1. Introduction: Prisoners in War ; PART I: THE EMERGENCE OF LEGAL AND ETHICAL STANDARDS BEFORE THE SECOND WORLD WAR ; 2. A Cautionary Tale from the Crusades? War and Prisoners in Conditions of Normative Incommensurability ; 3. Prisoners in Early Modern European Warfare ; 4. Prisoners of War in International Law: The Nineteenth Century ; 5. Prisoners in The First World War ; 6. The 1929 Prisoners of War Convention and the Building of the Inter-War Prisoner of War Regime ; PART II: PRISONERS IN REGULAR CONFLICTS - THE SECOND WORLD WAR ; 7. The Treatment of Prisoners of War In The Western European Theatre of War 1939-1945 ; 8. The Treatment of Prisoners of War In The Eastern European Theatre of Operations 1941-1956 ; 9. Japanese Culture and The Treatment of Prisoners of War In The Asian-Pacific War ; PART III: DETAINEES IN IRREGULAR CONFLICTS ; 10. Prisoners in Colonial Warfare: The Imperial German Example ; 11. The French in Algeria: Can There Be Prisoners of War In A 'Domestic' Operation? ; 12. Detention and Interrogation In Northern Ireland 1969-1975 ; 13. The Status and Treatment of Detainees in Russia's Chechen Campaigns ; PART IV: CONTEMPORARY PROBLEMS AND CHALLENGES ; 14. Private Military Personnel as Prisoners Of War ; 15. Child Prisoners in War ; 16. Legal Issues Related To Armed Conflict with Non-State Groups ; 17. Detainees: Misfits in Peace And War ; 18. Outsourcing Terror: Extraordinary Rendition and The Necessity For Extraterritorial Protection of Human Rights ; 19. Terrorist Beheadings: Politics and Reciprocity ; 20. Conclusion: Prisoners and Detainees in Current and Future Military Operations ; Index