POLSCI 160 Lecture Notes - Lecture 33: Perfidy, Noise Records, Military Justice
5 Jan 2017
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● Why do states follow war laws?
○ Reciprocal responses to a declaration of war
○ Do not want to give an excuse for the enemy to mistreat their own POWs
○ They want to encourage enemy soldiers to surrender to make their job easier
○ It is the right thing to do
● Tension between 2 norms of war
○ The protection of people and property during wartime
■ States want to reduce the destruction of war
■ Want to distinguish civilians from combatants
○ The prevention of perfidy (using the protections of laws to gain an unfair
advantage)
■ Using the laws to prevent harm on your army
■ Ex: placing warplanes next to protected sites, wearing wrong uniforms
● Record of War Laws
○ During WWII
■ Generally upheld: chemical weapons, POWs between Germany and
Western countries
■ Failures: POWs between Germany and the USSR, POWs between Japan
and the US
○ Other failures
■ Iran-Iraq War: chemical weapons used, civilian attacks conducted
■ North Korea, North Vietnam, China did not treat US POWs well
● How to get War Laws to Work
○ Problem: the ultimate punishment (war) is already in use
○ Reciprocal Enforcement: violations to laws are met in kind
■ Cannot occur if a state does not have the capabilities
● Ex: Ethiopia and China with chemical weapons
■ Can occur on the battlefield
● Used as revenge or protection if their own army is being tortured
● Perfidy by one side increases the odds the other side will violate
laws themselves
■ Can occur in state policy
● Treaty ratification signals that a state intends to abide by a treaty
● Joint ratification strengthens reciprocity
■ Democracies take legal obligations more seriously than autocracies
● Their leaders are not above the law
● Autocracies use law to control citizens
■ Democracies may observe treaties strictly because they are legal
commitments
■ Autocracies only fear the threat of retaliation
■ How states train their troops affects how they follow laws
● Some troops do not even know the laws
○ Bright Line: using war law to address noise
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Document Summary
Reciprocal responses to a declaration of war. Do not want to give an excuse for the enemy to mistreat their own pows. They want to encourage enemy soldiers to surrender to make their job easier. The protection of people and property during wartime. States want to reduce the destruction of war. The prevention of perfidy (using the protections of laws to gain an unfair advantage) Using the laws to prevent harm on your army. Ex: placing warplanes next to protected sites, wearing wrong uniforms. Generally upheld: chemical weapons, pows between germany and. Failures: pows between germany and the ussr, pows between japan and the us. Iran-iraq war: chemical weapons used, civilian attacks conducted. North korea, north vietnam, china did not treat us pows well. How to get war laws to work. Problem: the ultimate punishment (war) is already in use. Reciprocal enforcement: violations to laws are met in kind. Cannot occur if a state does not have the capabilities.
