Massacres and Morality

Mass Atrocities in an Age of Civilian Immunity

Alex J. Bellamy

Broad historical sweep and rich empirical examples
The only account of civilian immunity that looks at how it has operated to shape responses to actual cases

Massacres and Morality

Mass Atrocities in an Age of Civilian Immunity

Alex J. Bellamy

Description

Most cultural and legal codes agree that the intentional killing of civilians, whether in peacetime or war, is prohibited. This is the norm of civilian immunity, widely considered to be a fundamental moral and legal principle. Yet despite this fact, the deliberate killing of large numbers of civilians remains a persistent feature of global political life. What is more, the perpetrators have often avoided criticism and punishment. Examining dozens of episodes of mass killing perpetrated by states since the French Revolution late eighteenth century, this book attempts to explain this paradox. It studies the role that civilian immunity has played in shaping the behaviour of perpetrators and how international society has responded to mass killing. The book argues that although the world has made impressive progress in legislating against the intentional killing of civilians and in constructing institutions to give meaning to that prohibition, the norm's history in practice suggests that the ascendancy of civilian immunity is both more recent and more fragile than might otherwise be thought. In practice, decisions to violate a norm are shaped by factors relating to the norm and the situation at hand, so too is the manner in which international society and individual states respond to norm violations. Responses to norm violations are not simply matters of normative obligation or calculations of self-interest but are instead guided by a combination of these logics as well as perceptions about the situation at hand, existing relations with the actors involved, and power relations between actors holding different accounts of the situation. Thus, whilst civilian immunity has for the time being prevailed over 'anti-civilian ideologies' which seek to justify mass killing, it remains challenged by these ideologies and its implementation shaped by individual circumstances. As a result, whilst it has become much more difficult for states to get away with mass murder, it is still not entirely impossible for them to do so.

Massacres and Morality

Mass Atrocities in an Age of Civilian Immunity

Alex J. Bellamy

Introduction
1. Civilian Immunity and the Politics of Legitimacy
2. State Terror in the Long-Nineteenth Century
3. Totalitarian Mass Killing
4. Terror Bombing in the Second World War
5. The Cold War Struggle (1): Capitalist Atrocities
6. The Cold War Struggle (2): Communist Atrocities
7. Atrocities and the 'Golden Age' of Humanitarianism
8. Radical Islamism and the War on Terror
Conclusion

Massacres and Morality

Mass Atrocities in an Age of Civilian Immunity

Alex J. Bellamy

Author Information

Alex J. Bellamy served as Executive Director of the Asia Pacific Centre for the Responsibility to Protect from 2007-2010, and before that as Professor of International Relations at The University of Queensland. Before moving to Australia, he taught Defence Studies for King's College London at the UK's Joint Services Command and Staff College.

Massacres and Morality

Mass Atrocities in an Age of Civilian Immunity

Alex J. Bellamy

Reviews and Awards

"Alex Bellamy provides a detailed compendium of massacres over the last 200 years... [T]his is a masterly, judicious and painstakingly researched survey of massacres over the last two centuries. It will provide an invaluable quarry for anyone interested in the ethics, legality or politics of war. The books central message on the reality but fragility of moral progress is an important one for which it deserves to be widely read." -David Fisher, Kings College London

"This book about the coexistence of mass atrocities with the norm of civilian immunity from the nineteenth century to our time, and their evolution and mutual influence, is his [Alex J. Bellamy] best work yet. Rarely has such a painful and sensitive subject been investigated so seriously, thoroughly, clearly and impartially." -Survival

"Alex Bellamy, one of the most prolific writers on the subject of the Responsibility to Protect (R2P) and editor of the journal 'Global Responsibility to Protect' (GR2P) has now published on a subject located between international law and history. ...it examines a very large number of historical cases of massacres and mass killings that are probably not known in greater detail to a broader audience." -Austrian Review of International and European Law