CONFLICT AND CONFLICT RESOLUTION
September 1, 1999
BCSIA Annual Report, 1998-1999: Science Technology & Public Policy Program
Annual Report Chapter
Belfer Center Home > Topics > Conflict and Conflict Resolution
Targeting Civilians in War
Targeting Civilians in War
Accidental harm to civilians in warfare often becomes an occasion for public outrage, from citizens of both the victimized and the victimizing nation. In this vitally important book on a topic of acute concern for anyone interested in military strategy, international security, or human rights, Alexander B. Downes reminds readers that democratic and authoritarian governments alike will sometimes deliberately kill large numbers of civilians as a matter of military strategy. What leads governments to make such a choice?
International Security
The Summer 2009 issue of the quarterly journal International Security is now available. It includes articles by Matthew Fuhrmann, Elizabeth Stanley, Daniel Lake, Christopher Layne, and more.
Conflict Experts
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Intrastate Conflict Program
The Program on Intrastate Conflict analyzes the causes of ethnic, religious, and other intercommunal conflict, and seeks to identify practical ways to prevent and limit such conflict.
International Security Article
Why Civil Resistance Works: The Strategic Logic of Nonviolent Conflict
The historical record indicates that nonviolent campaigns have been more successful than armed campaigns in achieving ultimate goals in political struggles, even when used against similar opponents and in the face of repression. Nonviolent campaigns are more likely to win legitimacy, attract widespread domestic and international support, neutralize the opponent's security forces, and compel loyalty shifts among erstwhile opponent supporters than are armed campaigns, which enjoin the active support of a relatively small number of people, offer the opponent a justification for violent counterattacks, and are less likely to prompt loyalty shifts and defections. An original, aggregate data set of all known major nonviolent and violent resistance campaigns from 1900 to 2006 is used to test these claims. These dynamics are further explored in case studies of resistance campaigns in Southeast Asia that have featured periods of both violent and nonviolent resistance.
Featured Book
Building a New Afghanistan
Named an "Outstanding Academic Title for 2007" by Choice magazine.
