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T he I nternational D ebate on the P unishment of W ar C rimes D uring the B alkan W ars and the F irst W orld W ar
Author(s) -
Segesser Daniel Marc
Publication year - 2006
Publication title -
peace and change
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
eISSN - 1468-0130
pISSN - 0149-0508
DOI - 10.1111/j.1468-0130.2006.00390.x
Subject(s) - belligerent , war crime , punishment (psychology) , law , context (archaeology) , spanish civil war , total war , silence , political science , world war ii , criminology , sociology , international law , history , psychology , politics , social psychology , philosophy , archaeology , aesthetics
Although the issue of the punishment of war crimes had been discussed for a long time before the Balkan Wars and the First World War, it only rose to a place of prominence in the context of these wars. The present article sets out to analyze the international debate amongst jurists and other academics in the period of 1912 to 1918 looking at whether violations of the laws and customs of war merited prosecution at all, what kinds of crimes were considered war crimes, what courts should be used, and to what extent superior's orders was to be considered a valid defense. It argues that the concept of civilization played an important role when looking at the question: which war crimes were discussed and which war crimes were passed over in silence and why. The present article also shows that jurists integrated themselves into the mobilization effort of the belligerent countries and that many liberal jurists, especially on the side of the Allies, saw their participation as a continuation of their prewar intellectual efforts to replace might by right.