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2 - Reciprocity and IHL Compliance

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  03 October 2019

Bryan Peeler
Affiliation:
University of Manitoba, Canada
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Summary

This chapter lays the theoretical groundwork for the argument. In the first section, I outline the legal regime governing armed conflict. The second section provides an initial definition of reciprocity and reviews two literatures explaining its importance to compliance with international legal regimes such as IHL. In section three, I outline what I am calling the “humanization of humanitarian law” thesis. This is the view that states are and can be expected to implement IHL obligations even if their adversaries do not. In section four, I present a more nuanced view of reciprocity. I demonstrate, via H. L. A. Hart’s theory of law as the union of primary and secondary rules, how states have maintained reciprocal strategies for dealing with IHL non-compliance through secondary rules. I then explain how the domestic, multi-actor setting of state decision making allows policy makers to use these secondary rules to respond to IHL non-compliance. In the last section, I examine logic of appropriateness theories found in the international relations and international law literatures that could serve as a basis for the humanization of humanitarian law thesis.

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Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2019

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  • Reciprocity and IHL Compliance
  • Bryan Peeler, University of Manitoba, Canada
  • Book: The Persistence of Reciprocity in International Humanitarian Law
  • Online publication: 03 October 2019
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781108761970.002
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  • Reciprocity and IHL Compliance
  • Bryan Peeler, University of Manitoba, Canada
  • Book: The Persistence of Reciprocity in International Humanitarian Law
  • Online publication: 03 October 2019
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781108761970.002
Available formats
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Save book to Google Drive

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

  • Reciprocity and IHL Compliance
  • Bryan Peeler, University of Manitoba, Canada
  • Book: The Persistence of Reciprocity in International Humanitarian Law
  • Online publication: 03 October 2019
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781108761970.002
Available formats
×