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The roots of behaviour in war: Understanding and preventing IHL violations

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  27 April 2010

Daniel Muñoz-Rojas  and
Jean-Jacques Frésard
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Extract

The Roots of Behaviour in War study sought to contribute to improvements in the communication policies and strategies of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) so as to make them more effective in preventing violations of international humanitarian law (IHL). The study addressed two main questions:

a) What are the key factors which influence the behaviour of bearers of weapons so that they respect or violate IHL in any given situation?

b) Do prevention strategies drawn up by the ICRC take due account of the answers given to the foregoing question?

Type
Faits et documents/Reports and documents
Information
International Review of the Red Cross , Volume 86 , Issue 853 , March 2004 , pp. 189 - 206
Copyright
Copyright © International Committee of the Red Cross 2004

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References

1 For further detail, see the first part of the study: “Behaviour in War: a survey of the literature”. This report may be accessed on the ICRC website: <http://www.icrc.org>.

2 This report may be accessed on the ICRC website.

3 The initial results of this survey can be found in the report prepared by Greenberg Research Inc. entitled The People on War Report: ICRC worldwide consultation on the rules of war, International Commitee of the Red Cross, Geneva, 1999Google Scholar. This report is available on the ICRC website.

4 When we speak of the acknowledgement of IH L, we are using the term in two senses: that of identifying something with the help of memory (knowledge of something) and that of accepting and identifying with something (adherence to something). Similarly, when we speak of the application of IHL, we are referring not to the way in which people do in fact respect or have in fact respected IHL, but rather to what they say about their intention to respect it.

5 Milgram, Stanley, Obedience to authority: An experimental view, Harper & Row, New York, 1974Google Scholar.

6 Adapted from Bandura, Alebert, “Moral disengagement in the perpetration of inhumanities”, Personality and Social Psychology Review, Vol. 3, No 3, 1999CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed.

7 Staub, Erwin, The roots of evil: The origins of genocide and other group violence, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 1989Google Scholar.

8 Staub, Erwin, “The roots of evil: Social conditions, culture, personality, and basic human needs”, Personality and Social Psychology Review, Vol. 3, No 3, 1999, p. 182CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed.

9 Walzer, Michael, just and Unjust Wars, Basic Books, New York, 1977Google Scholar.

10 An attitude may be defined as the disposition of an individual towards someone or something. This disposition is rooted in stimuli from three sources: cognitive (knowledge that I accumulate), affective (sentiments that I feel) and behavioural (intentions and acts that I propose).