IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/sae/jocore/v63y2019i5p1140-1164.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

A Clash of Norms? How Reciprocity and International Humanitarian Law affect American Opinion on the Treatment of POWs

Author

Listed:
  • Jonathan A. Chu

Abstract

Reciprocity is one of the oldest principles of warfare, but humanitarian norms embedded in international humanitarian law (IHL) prohibit reciprocity over various wartime acts. When it comes to the treatment of prisoners of war (POWs), how do these conflicting norms shape public opinion? One perspective is that citizens who learn about IHL acquire an unconditional aversion to abusing POWs. Alternatively, people may understand IHL as a conditional commitment that instead strengthens their approval for reciprocal conduct. Survey experiments fielded in the United States support the latter view: people’s preferences depend on the enemy’s behavior, and this “reciprocity effect†is largest among those who believe that the United States is legally committed to treating POWs humanely. Puzzlingly, prior studies do not find a reciprocity effect, but this is due to their use of a no-information experimental control group, which led to a lack of control over the subjects’ assumptions about the survey.

Suggested Citation

  • Jonathan A. Chu, 2019. "A Clash of Norms? How Reciprocity and International Humanitarian Law affect American Opinion on the Treatment of POWs," Journal of Conflict Resolution, Peace Science Society (International), vol. 63(5), pages 1140-1164, May.
    • Handle: RePEc:sae:jocore:v:63:y:2019:i:5:p:1140-1164
    DOI: 10.1177/0022002718789751
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/0022002718789751
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1177/0022002718789751?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Imai, Kosuke & Keele, Luke & Tingley, Dustin & Yamamoto, Teppei, 2011. "Unpacking the Black Box of Causality: Learning about Causal Mechanisms from Experimental and Observational Studies," American Political Science Review, Cambridge University Press, vol. 105(4), pages 765-789, November.
    2. Kydd,Andrew H., 2015. "International Relations Theory," Cambridge Books, Cambridge University Press, number 9781107027350, January.
    3. Press, Daryl G. & Sagan, Scott D. & Valentino, Benjamin A., 2013. "Atomic Aversion: Experimental Evidence on Taboos, Traditions, and the Non-Use of Nuclear Weapons," American Political Science Review, Cambridge University Press, vol. 107(1), pages 188-206, February.
    4. Kydd,Andrew H., 2015. "International Relations Theory," Cambridge Books, Cambridge University Press, number 9781107694231, January.
    5. Morrow, James D., 2007. "When Do States Follow the Laws of War?," American Political Science Review, Cambridge University Press, vol. 101(3), pages 559-572, August.
    6. Wallace, Geoffrey P.R., 2013. "International Law and Public Attitudes Toward Torture: An Experimental Study," International Organization, Cambridge University Press, vol. 67(1), pages 105-140, January.
    7. Liberman, Peter, 2006. "An Eye for an Eye: Public Support for War Against Evildoers," International Organization, Cambridge University Press, vol. 60(3), pages 687-722, July.
    8. Tingley, Dustin H. & Walter, Barbara F., 2011. "The Effect of Repeated Play on Reputation Building: An Experimental Approach," International Organization, Cambridge University Press, vol. 65(2), pages 343-365, April.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Kathleen E. Powers & Joshua D. Kertzer & Deborah J. Brooks & Stephen G. Brooks, 2022. "What’s Fair in International Politics? Equity, Equality, and Foreign Policy Attitudes," Journal of Conflict Resolution, Peace Science Society (International), vol. 66(2), pages 217-245, February.
    2. Christopher W. Blair & Jonathan A. Chu & Joshua A. Schwartz, 2022. "The Two Faces of Opposition to Chemical Weapons: Sincere Versus Insincere Norm-Holders," Journal of Conflict Resolution, Peace Science Society (International), vol. 66(4-5), pages 677-703, May.
    3. David A. Steinberg & Yeling Tan, 2023. "Public responses to foreign protectionism: Evidence from the US-China trade war," The Review of International Organizations, Springer, vol. 18(1), pages 145-167, January.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Caleb Pomeroy & Brian C Rathbun, 2024. "Just business? Moral condemnation and virtuous violence in the American and Russian mass publics," Journal of Peace Research, Peace Research Institute Oslo, vol. 61(4), pages 560-575, July.
    2. Desiree A. Desierto, 2018. "Formal models of the political resource curse," Economics of Governance, Springer, vol. 19(3), pages 225-259, August.
    3. Christopher W. Blair & Jonathan A. Chu & Joshua A. Schwartz, 2022. "The Two Faces of Opposition to Chemical Weapons: Sincere Versus Insincere Norm-Holders," Journal of Conflict Resolution, Peace Science Society (International), vol. 66(4-5), pages 677-703, May.
    4. Lisa Langdon Koch, 2024. "Punishment and blame: How core beliefs affect support for the use of force in a nuclear crisis," Conflict Management and Peace Science, Peace Science Society (International), vol. 41(6), pages 649-669, November.
    5. Brian C. Rathbun & Rachel Stein, 2020. "Greater Goods: Morality and Attitudes toward the Use of Nuclear Weapons," Journal of Conflict Resolution, Peace Science Society (International), vol. 64(5), pages 787-816, May.
    6. Björn Gehrmann, 2019. "Third-party diplomacy," HiCN Working Papers 312, Households in Conflict Network.
    7. Bertrand Crettez, 2017. "On Hobbes’s state of nature and game theory," Theory and Decision, Springer, vol. 83(4), pages 499-511, December.
    8. Neil Collins & Kristina Bekenova, 2017. "Fuelling the New Great Game: Kazakhstan, energy policy and the EU," Asia Europe Journal, Springer, vol. 15(1), pages 1-20, March.
    9. Sarah Kreps & Sarah Maxey, 2018. "Mechanisms of Morality," Journal of Conflict Resolution, Peace Science Society (International), vol. 62(8), pages 1814-1842, September.
    10. Naudé, Wim & Dimitri, Nicola, 2018. "The Race for an Artificial General Intelligence: Implications for Public Policy," IZA Discussion Papers 11737, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    11. Gehrmann, Björn, 2019. "Krieg, Frieden und Mediation - eine wettkampftheoretische Perspektive [War, Peace and Mediation - a Contest Theory Perspective]," MPRA Paper 93645, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    12. Acharya, Avidit & Blackwell, Matthew & Sen, Maya, 2016. "Explaining Causal Findings Without Bias: Detecting and Assessing Direct Effects," American Political Science Review, Cambridge University Press, vol. 110(3), pages 512-529, August.
    13. Christoph Dworschak, 2024. "Bias mitigation in empirical peace and conflict studies: A short primer on posttreatment variables," Journal of Peace Research, Peace Research Institute Oslo, vol. 61(3), pages 462-476, May.
    14. Parker Hevron, 2018. "Judicialization and Its Effects: Experiments as a Way Forward," Laws, MDPI, vol. 7(2), pages 1-21, May.
    15. Colombo, Emilio & Rotondi, Valentina & Stanca, Luca, 2018. "Macroeconomic conditions and health: Inspecting the transmission mechanism," Economics & Human Biology, Elsevier, vol. 28(C), pages 29-37.
    16. Albano, Gian Luigi & Cipollone, Angela & Paolo, Roberto Di & Ponti, Giovanni & Sparro, Marco, 2024. "Scoring rules in experimental procurement," Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Economics (formerly The Journal of Socio-Economics), Elsevier, vol. 108(C).
    17. Belén González & Richard Traunmüller, 2024. "The political consequences of wartime sexual violence: Evidence from a list experiment," Journal of Peace Research, Peace Research Institute Oslo, vol. 61(6), pages 1035-1050, November.
    18. Cluver, L. & Shenderovich, Y. & Meinck, F. & Berezin, M.N. & Doubt, J. & Ward, C.L. & Parra-Cardona, J. & Lombard, C. & Lachman, J.M. & Wittesaele, C. & Wessels, I. & Gardner, F. & Steinert, J.I., 2020. "Parenting, mental health and economic pathways to prevention of violence against children in South Africa," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 262(C).
    19. Lisa Martin, 2008. "Xinyuan Dai, International Institutions and National Policies," The Review of International Organizations, Springer, vol. 3(2), pages 201-206, June.
    20. Maude Lavanchy & Patrick Reichert & Jayanth Narayanan & Krishna Savani, 2023. "Applicants’ Fairness Perceptions of Algorithm-Driven Hiring Procedures," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 188(1), pages 125-150, November.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:sae:jocore:v:63:y:2019:i:5:p:1140-1164. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: SAGE Publications (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://pss.la.psu.edu/ .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.