Reconsidering the Legal Equality of Combatants |
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Authors: | Jovana Davidovic |
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Institution: | 1. Department of Philosophy, University of Iowa, Iowa City, IA, USAjovana-davidovic@uiowa.edu |
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Abstract: | ABSTRACTThe legal equality of combatants (LEC) is a fixture of international law and just war theory. Both scholars who embrace and those who reject the moral equality of combatants seem committed to the legal equality of combatants. Their reasons usually include pragmatic worries about unjust combatants committing even more harm if they were to be simply prohibited from fighting. In this article I argue that this sweeping commitment to the legal equality of combatants is mistaken and that it is often grounded in a misunderstanding of the way international law governs behavior. |
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Keywords: | Legal equality of combatants laws of armed conflict expressivist theories of international law just war theory |
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