Miseries Of War Research Articles

Violence beyond the Battlefield: Civilian Targeting, Sexual Violence, and Women’s Political Empowerment

Abstract Research has established links between intrastate conflict and political gains by women following war, suggesting that changes of a positive nature can emerge from the misery of war. While much of the empirical focus on conflicts’ transformative effects has been on battle-related violence, we investigate whether pro-social effects are associated with two other types of violence perpetrated against civilians—one-sided violence and sexual violence. We expect that both one-sided violence and sexual violence spur mobilization, which in turn contributes to gains in women’s political empowerment. Informed by feminist scholarship, we also draw attention to social and political constraints associated with high levels of sexual violence, restrictions that we argue women are unlikely to confront to a similar degree with respect to high levels of one-sided and other forms of violence. We posit that these factors will result in the attenuation of gains in women’s political power in conflicts characterized by high levels of sexual violence. Using cross-national data on civil conflicts for the period 1989–2017, we find that moderate levels of sexual violence are consistently associated with gains in women’s political empowerment, an effect that diminishes in conflicts marked by widespread sexual violence. One-sided violence, on the other hand, is not associated with improvements in women’s political empowerment. Our results demonstrate the importance of considering the different forms of wartime violence, and the differential impacts these forms of violence have on women.​

International Mechanisms for Implementing the Rules of International Humanitarian Law

After establishing and completing the rules of the international humanitarian law, what occupies the thoughts and minds of the researchers has become the effectiveness of those legal rules because the international community has created the International Humanitarian Law to decrease the agony and misery of war and to deter anyone who may violate these rules. Without a mechanism of implementation, the international humanitarian law becomes mere ideal expression of ideas, and to activate its, there must be some mechanism to be implemented and to be respected. The mechanism could be supervisory, monitoring, or preventive or even judicial to implement the rules of the international humanitarian law in case of violation of these rules especially with regard to the protection of civilians and spreading the rules of the international humanitarian law.
 Despite the existence of the comprehensive and detailed international humanitarian law which are highly approved and agreed upon as a complete system of protection but it is unfortunately accompanied by a general tendency towards ignoring and disobeying them.

SILHOUETTES OF ETHNIC IMAGES IN WESTERN UKRAINIAN WAR PROSE OF THE FIRST HALF OF THE 20TH CENTURY

The paper examines how the concept of Own-Other-Alien is represented in Western Ukrainian prose depicting the events of the First World War, with a particular focus on the works by Marko Cheremshyna, Vasyl Stefanyk and Tymotei Borduliak. The selection of authors and texts is determined by the objective of conducting a thorough analysis of how civilians, rather than military personnel, perceive the horrors of war. An encounter with the Other or the Alien is always a challenge to one’s identity determined by different worldviews and cultural traditions. Western Ukrainian authors do not exaggerate antagonisms and conflicts but note that the opposition among the components of the mentioned triad deepens. The Alien is portrayed as a source of constant danger. Alienation is primarily intercultural differences causing misunderstandings and challenges that cannot be eliminated or at least mitigated. The paper highlights processes of apprehending the Other, differentiating One’s Own and the Other, and recognizing One’s Own in the Other. The miseries of war can dramatically change people's behavior, especially when it comes to choosing between life and death. The war causes a change in the moral and ethical scale of values: as a result, the world that was native yesterday may also become the space of the Other or even the Alien, and it may be increasingly difficult to find One’s Own in it. As shown by Marko Cheremshyna, Vasyl Stefanyk and Tymotei Borduliak, the process of alienation from one’s native can be based either on the desire to survive, or on old and deep personal grievances. The writers avoid idealization of self-images, recognizing that lowering the moral scale can lead to alienation and pose a threat to the Own.

الاّليات الدولية لتنفيذ قواعد القانون الدولي الانساني

After establishing and completing the rules of the international humanitarian law, what occupies the thoughts and minds of the researchers has become the effectiveness of those legal rules because the international community has created the International Humanitarian Law to decrease the agony and misery of war and to deter anyone who may violate these rules. Without a mechanism of implementation, the international umanitarian law becomes mere ideal expression of ideas, and to activate its, there must be some mechanism to be implemented and to be respected. The mechanism could be supervisory, monitoring, or preventive or even judicial to implement the rules of the international humanitarian law in case of violation of these rules especially with regard to the protection of civilians and spreading the rules of the international humanitarian law. Despite the existence of the comprehensive and detailed international humanitarian law which are highly approved and agreed upon as a complete system of protection but it is unfortunately accompanied by a general tendency towards ignoring and disobeying them.

Forensic pathology following war or internal violence

Forensic pathology following war or internal violence is a subset of forensic pathology in the international context. The extent of involvement internationally has become more intense over the last ten years or so. This will continue as, unfortunately, and especially in the Asia-Pacific region, it is expected that natural disasters will increase in frequency along with climate change. The need for forensic pathology and related expertise (mortuary science, anthropology, odontology) is obvious;the necessary arrangements for these disciplines to be available to serve internationally on a sustainable basis, let alone on a sufficient scale, still do not exist. The willingness of forensic pathologists and colleagues to fill the breach in an ad hoc way is to be commended. The continuous presence of Australian forensic odontologists and pathologists, amongst others, in Phuket for a full 12 months after the Indian Ocean tsunami was a testament to this willingness. The history of forensic pathology's involvement in unravelling events occurring during war and internal violence begins with the Massacre in Katyn Forest in World War II. The event is briefly recounted, as it contains within it a major truth that needs to be understood every time we contemplate the possibility of becoming involved in a particular context: the propensity for our involvement to be used for partisan political purposes. On 18 August 2008, the UN General Assembly reminded member states that, in relation to armed conflict: ‘It is essential that measures be taken to prevent persons from going missing, establish the right to know <i>[that is the right of families to know the fate of those missing]</i>, develop forensic science capacity, and counter impunity.' Amongst all the miseries of war, the uncertainty for families generated by not knowing what has happened to one or more of their missing members is, perhaps, the most psychologically corrosive. Existing on a large scale, as in the Balkans for example, it can interfere with efforts to promote peace. The reference above to the right to know is a reference to international humanitarian law which recognises a right for families to know the fate of their missing members in times of war (Geneva Conventions, Additional Protocol I: Article 32;this is real law). What does such a right contain? It means that the family has the right to know:<ul><li>1.That the missing family member is dead. This requires that the dead must be identified.</li><li>2.Something about how the missing family member died (e.g., where and by what means).</li></ul> Furthermore, if the right is to have real meaning, it requires not only that the information be discovered, but that it be transmitted to the surviving family. This is the main basis upon which the forensic sciences generally will become involved in these events. This presentation will describe some of the work of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) which, with others, has been trying to give some meaning to the right to know.

Air Power in Japan's National Strategy

Determined never to relive the miseries of war, Japan has made every effort to build itself into a ‘peace-loving nation’ since the end of the Second World War. Indeed, the idea of pacifism is enshr...

Jacques Callot's Miseries of War

In the last years of his life, Jacques Callot etched two series of prints illustrating the miseries of war. The first, in a smaller format and therefore called the Small Miseries of War, consists of six prints, which Callot etched ca. 1632.1 The later Large Miseries consists of eighteen prints that were published in 1633.2 Neither series is known to have been commissioned, and scholars without exception assume that Callot chose the theme himself.3 Scholars differ, however, about why Callot selected the subject and how the prints should be interpreted. Interpretations are often conflicting and none has gained wide acceptance. This study is an attempt to reexamine the problem.

A Program that Made a Difference

When tough times prevail, outstanding tenacity arises'. This ancient Arabic proverb highlights the attitude of many Lebanese who suffered the miseries of war, poverty, and displacement. I am referring to a majority of Lebanese women who weredeprived, displaced, widowed, divorced, or who lost one or more of their family members during the war.

Social Unrest and Spiritual Agitation in Present-Day Japan

In many aspects of social life Japan shares with the whole world the consequences of the World War, particularly in the intricate connections between social unrest and spiritual agitation. Japan had passed through two wars in recent times; they aroused the nation to national self-consciousness, but they brought also many new problems. Yet those wars were fought far from Japan itself, and did not bring home the disasters and miseries of war. In the World War Japan took a part, but it remained for the people a matter of distant lands. Thus they were comparatively indifferent to the various issues raised by the war, such as the combat between militarism and democracy, the questions of international justice and the self-determination of nations, the problems of peace and social reconstruction. Moreover, their indignation against the aggressive Occident led the people to discredit the pleas of the allies against Germany, and often to incline to sympathize with the German claim of “a place in the sun.” These circumstances tended to keep the Japanese comparatively untouched by the problems created by the war. But the collapse of the great empires and the final outcome of the war could not fail to produce a profound impression among the Japanese. Although the people at large did not realize the whole situation, yet the gravity of the changes and problems was more or less fully grasped, and serious thought was stirred on social and religious questions.