Description
Book SynopsisSince at least the Middle Ages, the laws of war have distinguished between combatants and civilians under an injunction now formally known as the principle of distinction. The principle of distinction is invoked in contemporary conflicts as if there were an unmistakable and sure distinction to be made between combatant and civilian. As is so brutally evident in armed conflicts, it is precisely the distinction between civilian and combatant, upon which the protection of civilians is founded, cannot be taken as self-evident or stable. Helen M. Kinsella documents that the history of international humanitarian law itself admits the difficulty of such a distinction.
In The Image before the Weapon, Kinsella explores the evolution of the concept of the civilian and how it has been applied in warfare. A series of discoursesincluding gender, innocence, and civilizationhave shaped the legal, military, and historical understandings of the civilian and she documents how these disc
Trade Review
The Image before the Weapon is an authoritative critical history of the 'principle of distinction' that deeply informs our current political condition. Helen M. Kinsella’s tour de force transcends disciplinary divisions and speaks to some of the thorniest ethical issues in contemporary warfare. What is a civilian? What is a combatant? Who is to judge and on what grounds? Epic in its ambition and scope yet tightly focused and accessibly argued, The Image before the Weapon is a significant achievement in critical theorizing that speaks as much to contemporary debates about counterinsurgency strategy and the political dynamics of civil wars as it does to current interpretations of medieval philosophy.
* Contemporary Political Theory *
For centuries, philosophers and publicists have sought to formalize the distinction between combatants and civilians under what is known as the principle of distinction. Although this principle has long been viewed as stable and relatively straightforward, Helen M. Kinsella demonstrates in The Image before the Weapon that it is anything but.
* International Studies Review *
Table of Contents1. Gender, Innocence, and Civilization
2. Martial Piety in the Medieval and Chivalric Codes of War
3. Civilization and Empire: Francisco de Vitoria and Hugo Grotius
4. General Orders 100, Union General Sherman's March to Atlanta, and the Sand Creek Massacre
5. The 1899 Martens Clause and the 1949 IV Geneva Convention
6. The Algerian Civil War and the 1977 Protocols Additional
7. The Civil Wars of Guatemala and El Salvador
8. ResponsibilityNotes
Index
