Massacres and Morality: Mass Killing in an Age of Civilian Immunity

2012/11/01 by Alex J. Bellamy · 1 citation
Arts and Humanities · Social Sciences · #War, Ethics, and Justification #Global Peace and Security Dynamics #Torture, Ethics, and Law

paper · doi:10.1353/hrq.2012.0066

openalex publication_date 2012/11/01 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/02

Abstract

The norm of civilian immunity, which holds that civilians must not be intentionally targeted in war or subjected to mass killing, is widely supported and considered a jus cogens principle of international law. Yet not only does mass killing remain a recurrent feature of world politics, but perpetrators sometimes avoid criticism or punishment. This article argues that the paradox can be explained by understanding that civilian immunity confronts a protracted struggle with competing ideologies, some of which have proven resilient, and that decisions about how to interpret the norm in specific cases are subject to intervening contextual variables.

Citations

• Anarchy is what states make of it: the social construction of power politics
• International Norm Dynamics and Political Change

Cited by

• Mass killings under communist states [wikipedia]

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