The Security Consequences of Bearing Witness

Dados Bibliográficos

ID10071862
AutoresJames Meernik (0000-0003-1748-8391, University of North Texas, autor correspondente), Kimi King (0000-0001-7413-6742, University of North Texas)
Ano2019
Volume64
Fascículo5
Páginas933-957
Data de publicação2019-11-22
Peer ReviewedSim
Open AccessSim
TipoARTICLE
PeriódicoJournal of Conflict Resolution (JOURNAL)
Identificadores do periódicoISSN: 0022-0027 • E-ISSN: 1552-8766
EditoraSAGE Publishing (PUBLISHER • US)
DOI10.1177/0022002719883369
OpenAlexW2990427103
IdiomaEN
Citações recebidas1
Referências citadas59

It is a central assumption of our research that threats to a fragile security and violence can continue during postconflict peacebuilding and that these threats are driven by many of the same sociopolitical dynamics that initially led to war. We examine a critical but much less queried area of postwar societal instability—violence directed at segments of the population who may still be targets for those seeking dominance. Using a survey of 300 individuals who testified before the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia (ICTY), we seek to explain violence, threats of violence, and other forms of intimidation directed at those who witnessed human rights violations during the wars in the former Yugoslavia. Our theory of postwar violence emphasizes the vulnerability of the (potential) victims of postwar violence. We argue that victims are selectively chosen because of their vulnerability. We develop and test an alternative explanation for this selective targeting that emphasizes the level of exposure an individual may have because of testifying at the ICTY. The results demonstrate quite convincingly, however, that it is vulnerability rather than exposure risk that predicts who is most likely to be targeted with human security threats

Computer security · Criminology · Development economics · Dominance (genetics · Economics · Human rights · Human security · Intimidation · Peacebuilding · Political economy · Political science · Population · Sociology · Tribunal · Vulnerability (computing · Witness · Gender, Security, and Conflict · Law · Peacebuilding and International Security · Political Conflict and Governance