Ethics, Law, and Civilian Casualties in Wartime Settings: Experimental Evidence

Session Submission Type: Full Paper Panel

Session Description

How do individuals form judgements about the legitimacy of the use of force, including drone strikes, in wartime contexts? And how do civilian casualties affect their support for both the continued use of force and post-harm humanitarian aid? Drawing on survey experiments and interviews in three countries (Iraq, Pakistan, and the US), this panel examines how norms, ethics, and international law shape citizen beliefs and attitudes toward the use of force in war. Despite recent research, we still lack experimental evidence of how citizens think about key wartime dynamics, including how to assign blame for civilian casualties; how ethical and legal considerations shape perceptions of the legitimacy of the use of force; and how the prospect of civilian casualties, along with perceptions of whether local populations support military intervention, affect public sentiment toward policies of violence (e.g., the use of drone strikes) and overall strategy (e.g., military intervention). More specifically, our papers ask: Are individual responses to civilian casualties driven by ethical or legal judgements? Does the consent of local populations translate into greater support for intervention among the American public? How do civilian casualties shape support for the use of drone strikes as an instrument of policy, and how does that support shift if victims are provided aid after they are harmed? And, finally, how does variation in drone targeting standards affect the perceived legitimacy of these airstrikes among targeted communities and those who implement the drone strikes? Taken together, the panel promises to generate new insights into the individual level drivers of support for the use of force in the shadow of civilian casualties during wartime.

Sub Unit

• Division 19: International Security 

Chair

• Michael Lee Weintraub Universidad de los Andes

Discussant

• Aidan Milliff Florida State University

Individual Presentations

• Law, Morality, and Blame: Attitudes toward Civilian Casualties in Mosul - Janina Dill, University of Oxford; Mara Revkin, Duke University

• Consent, Aggregation, and War Support - Livia Isabella Schubiger, ETH Zurich; Janina Dill, University of Oxford; Emily Myers, Duke University

• Airstrikes, Civilian Casualties, and the Moral Hazard of Wartime Aid - Elsa Voytas, Dartmouth College; Jason Lyall, Dartmouth College

• Military Targeting Standards and the Legitimacy of Drones Strikes - Paul Lushenko, US Army War College