Protection of Civilians in Armed Conflict: Safe Areas and the Silencing of Mass Atrocities

This publication-based thesis approaches the topic of the protection of civilians in armed conflict by ‘zooming in‘ on two specific sub-topics: safe areas as well as the silencing of mass atrocities. The thesis consists of five publications (four of them published in double-blind peer reviewed journals) and of an introductory chapter that presents the overall argument and contextualises the publications. Two publications argue that mass atrocities are silenced, or at least not politicised, in the discourses and debates of Germany as an exemplary UN member state. It is argued that ‘silencing’ is a structural feature of an ‘identity-mismatch’ with the domestic ideational structure that inhibits debates and freezes the possibility space for foreign policy. Empirically, the first publication assesses the rhetoric of the German chancellor, foreign ministers and parliamentary group leaders vis-à-vis the mass atrocities committed in Yemen, Myanmar and South Sudan. The second publication widens the scope and looks at German political, media and societal debates in twelve cases of mass atrocities between 1992 and 2019. The remaining three publications focus on the topic of safe areas. The first publication systematically collects and assesses the existing conceptual literature on safe areas. The second publication presents a comprehensive definition, a four-fold typology based on a distinction by size and the logic of protection as well as an extensive empirical dataset of safe areas. By analysing case studies from Iraq and South Sudan, the third publication argues that safe areas have a very limited potential to provide an alternative to flight, especially from the perspective of the protection-seeking civilians themselves.

Level thesis:degree_level

thesis.doctoral

Grantor dc:publisher

Universität Passau

Year

2025

Author dc:creator

• Hering, Robin

Contributors dc:contributor

• Stahl, Bernhard
• Hummel, Hartwig

• Protection of Civilians
• Mass Atrocities
• Foreign Policy Analysis
• Safe Areas
• Silencing

Statement dc:rights

• Standardbedingung laut Einverständniserklärung

Repository record source_url

https://opus4.kobv.de/opus4-uni-passau/frontdoor/index/index/docId/1576

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:kobv.de-opus4-uni-passau:1576