Description
Book SynopsisWhy are prisoners horribly abused in some wars but humanely cared for in others? In Life and Death in Captivity, Geoffrey P. R. Wallace explores the profound differences in the ways captives are treated during armed conflict. Wallace focuses on the dual role played by regime type and the nature of the conflict in determining whether captor states opt for brutality or mercy. Integrating original data on prisoner treatment during the last century of interstate warfare with in-depth historical cases, Wallace demonstrates how domestic constraints and external incentives shape the fate of captured enemy combatants. Both Russia and Japan, for example, treated prisoners very differently in the Russo-Japanese War of 19045 and in World War II; the behavior of any given country is liable to vary from conflict to conflict and even within the same war.
Democracies may be more likely to treat their captives humanely, yet this benevolence is rooted less in liberal norms of nonviolenc
Trade Review
Geoffrey Wallace suggests a new theoretical framework to examine wartime conduct and political violence in armed conflicts.
* Canadian Military History *
Table of ContentsIntroduction1. Repertoires of Violence against Prisoners2. The Captor's Dilemma3. Prisoners by the Numbers4. World War II, Democracies, and the (Mis)Treatment of Prisoners5. Territorial Conquest and the Katyn Massacre in PerspectiveConclusion: Explaining the Treatment of Prisoners during WarAppendix
Notes
References
Index
