Les crimes de guerre constituent des violations graves du droit international pénal. Cependant, chaque nouveau conflit, qu'il ait un caractère international ou non, donne lieu à la perpétration de tels crimes. Pourquoi ? Y aurait-il des éléments prédisposant aux comportements de violence ? Le XXe siècle est le siècle de la justice internationale pénale caractérisée par la mise en place de tribunaux militaires internationaux après la découverte des atrocités de la Seconde Guerre mondiale, puis de tribunaux internationaux « ad hoc » pour se terminer par l'instauration d’une Cour internationale permanente en matière pénale. Les tribunaux ad hoc instaurés pour l’ex-Yougoslavie et pour le Rwanda ont permis que soient appliquées aux conflits armés non internationaux, les conventions internationales définissant les règles régissant les conflits armés internationaux. Quel a été l’impact de la jurisprudence de ces tribunaux sur la notion de crime de guerre ? Enfin, même si la mise en place de la Cour pénale internationale constitue un espoir dans la lutte contre l’impunité, son Statut souligne le difficile équilibre qu’elle opère entre la souveraineté des États et la volonté d’une justice universelle. Aux côtés de la justice institutionnelle est apparue la « justice transitionnelle », dont l’un des objectifs est de permettre la transition entre le temps de guerre et le temps de paix, dans les meilleures conditions possible, et ce, malgré les dilemmes auxquels elle doit faire face. Après tout, un retour rapide à une paix durable n’est-il pas préférable ? La justice transitionnelle nous emmène à nous poser la question suivante : faut-il juger ou pardonner les crimes de guerre ? / War crimes are serious violations of international criminal law. However, each new conflict, international or non-international, gives rise to the commission of war crimes. Why ? Does-it have factors that predispose to violent behaviours ? The 20th century is the century of international criminal law which is first characterized by the establishment of international military tribunals after the discovery of the atrocities of World War II, then international tribunals « ad hoc », eventually it ends by the introduction of an international criminal court. International Criminal Tribunals established for former Yugoslavia and Rwanda have permitted the application of International Conventions, defining armed conflict’s rules, to non-international armed conflicts. What was the impact of these tribunals’ case laws on war crime concept ? Eventually, even if the establishment of International Criminal Court gave hope to combat impunity, its status highlights the delicate balance between states’ sovereignty and the willingness of universal justice. Transitional justice was introduced to complete or to replace institutional justice in some cases. One of transitional justice’s objectives is to make a transition a transition between wartime and peacetime as smooth as possible even if many challenges remain. In fact, the fast restoration of lasting peace would it not be better ? The transitional justice leads us to wonder if we have to judge or forgive war crimes ?

Across four self-contained essays, this dissertation seeks to identify which features make international organizations (IOs) effective peacemakers in modern civil wars. The first essay introduces an original dataset on the institutional design of 21 peace-brokering IOs between 1945 and 2010. The second essay contains a statistical study of 122 IO civil war mediation episodes, examining how variation in institutional design affects outcomes. The third essay presents an in-depth case study, comparing interventions by the Arab League and the United Nations in Syria in 2011 and 2012. The fourth essay is a statistical examination of how IO member state biases influence mediation effectiveness. Overall, this dissertation demonstrates that the performance of peace-brokering IOs cannot be accurately evaluated without taking institutional variation into account. IOs display considerable heterogeneity in de­sign and capabili­ties and this variation has implications for the nature and effectiveness of IO interventions. Quantitative evidence reveals that IOs with strongly centralized instruments for supporting mediation and, in particular, peacekeeping operations are more likely to end civil wars. Qualitative evidence shows that IOs with such capabilities can engage in interventions of greater scope and credibility, enhancing their ability to shape the calculations of civil war disputants. Combined, the studies suggest that although institutional capabilities are necessary for sustained intervention effectiveness, they are conditioned on other organizational attributes. IOs with high preference homogeneity can signal intervention durability, giving them an edge over IOs with divided memberships. IOs that contain member states that have pro­vided direct support to civil war disputants outperform IOs that lack such member states. / <p>This dissertation consists of four self-contained essays dealing with different aspects of conflict management by international organizations.</p><p>Essay 4 previously appeared in 2014 as “Leanings and dealings: Exploring bias and trade leverage in civil war mediation by international organizations” (<em>International Negotiation, 19</em>(2), 315–342).</p>

The thesis explores the extent to which the UN post-conflict administrations are accountable towards the populations of the territories they administer. The post-conflict administrations temporarily assume legislative and administrative powers to support the peace processes, to help to resolve the sovereignty issues or to establish administrative structures that might be non-existent in these territories. The thesis argues that, while the exercise of these extensive powers entails the accountability of the UN, in practice this accountability is not effectively engaged. As opposed to other forms of accountability, the focus is on the international legal responsibility of the UN as the prominent and most meaningful form of accountability, in the accountability relationship between the administrator and the administered, which gives the populations of the administered territories the opportunity to challenge the acts of international administrations and seek redress. In exploring the legal responsibility of the UN and in line with Article 4 of the ILC Draft Articles on the Responsibility of International Organizations, which states only an act of an international organization that constitutes a breach of an international obligation entails its responsibility, this thesis initially explores the extent of international obligations arising from, and the extent of applicability of, three bodies of law. First, the thesis discusses the applicability of international humanitarian law, the fundamental principles of which have traditionally been part of UN peace operations practice. Next, it considers the applicability of the law of occupation, which shares stark factual similarities with the UN post-conflict administrations. Finally, the applicability of international human rights law, which is consistently part of the applicable law in post-conflict territories, and the protection and promotion of which is consistently included in the mandates of post-conflict administrations is examined. The thesis argues that the simultaneous application these bodies of law would help to create a legal framework to engage the accountability of UN post-conflict administrations and this legal framework should be complemented by effective accountability mechanisms.

Countries emerging out of armed conflicts face immense challenges in their efforts to build electoral democracies. Contrary to our intuition that elections can transform violent competition to peaceful political contests, past research suggests that holding post-conflict elections only increases the chance of renewed violence. Why are elections unable to build sustainable democracies as expected? In this dissertation, I examine the question by focusing on two levels of analysis. First, I study the effects of violence on political behavior of mass publics at the individual level using the World Values survey Dataset. I argue that citizens are more inclined to support undemocratic leaders, when they are faced with threats from armed violence. Empirically, I find that presence of pre-election violence in post-conflict elections leads voters to prefer parties that are stronger in terms of their violence-wielding capacities over more moderate and peaceful parties. Second, I investigate how such an outcome might influence the risk of renewed conflicts in a country emerging out of armed conflict. The hypothesized mechanism can only be described as tragic. At individual level, fearful voters support violent parties mainly to maintain the status quo, fearing that parties with a violent reputation are likely to renew conflict if they lose the election. Tragically, however, placing undemocratic and violent parties in power only increases the likelihood of renewed conflicts. I test this expectation using an event history model to analyze all post-conflict countries from 1950 to 2010 and find that the presence of pre-election violence in a country increases its risk of renewed armed conflicts. The study has important implication for policymakers and election monitoring bodies. Rather than the current practice of observing only a single event Election Day, this study emphasizes the importance of creating a secure environment during the pre-election phase, about six months prior to the first election, in order to achieve a sustainable peace in post-conflict countries.

"Child soldier from the perspective of International Law" (Thesis title) This diploma thesis deals with a protection of a child and relation between international humanitarian law and human rights law. The main emphasis is put on particular legal agreements governing status of children in armed conflicts and providing them with protection. In this work are also discussed merits of particular international conventions, as well as issues of their application and supervision. The first chapter pursues rise in interest of society in position of child soldiers and inspects motives and causes of participation of children in armed conflicts. After that the thesis explores historical connection between children and their involvement in armed conflicts. In the end it considers impact of those conflicts on physical and mental health of children and consequences, which arise by their involvement in armed conflicts. The second chapter focuses on defining fundamental terms such as child and armed conflict. Those terms are studied further in accordance with individual and different ways of interpretation of particular conventions. This chapter points out, that decisive criteria for the involvement of children in government's armed forces or non-state army and therefore for their protection is age. The difference...

This thesis deals with the position of journalists in the situation of armed conflict, It is a category of persons, whose protection within the international humanitarian law has been discussed for many years. Mediation of information from the area of armed conflict is a growing phenomen and because of the technical equipment, it relates more and more to laymen, not just professionals. The question whether journalist should enjoy special protection in the situation of armed conflict was raised already in the process of adopting the Additional Protocols, the so far latest source of the "Geneva law". Since then, it has been subject to many iniciatives, whose aim is to emphasize the role and value of journalists on the battlefield and ensure them more safety. On the other hand, it is obvious that journalists are not an a priori object, which should be protected by the humanitarian law - victims of the armed conflict, either among combatants or civilists. The thesis therefore tries to map the current legislation (embodied mostly in the Geneva Conventions and the Additional Protocols) and its historical and factual context. In the second part, it introduces and evaluates different initiatives that address the legislation - both those which try to change it and strenghten the protection of journalist in...

Do conflict parties’ characteristics influence mediation onset? Using the veto player theory, this study addresses the question why and under what circumstances mediation occurs. The predictions made by veto player theory correspond with why conflicts are, or become more intense and longer (Cunningham 2006). I argue that the number of veto players influences the cost-benefit calculations of conflict actors, as low numbers of veto players limit concession making, while high numbers of veto players exacerbate information asymmetries. Therefore, I test the hypothesis that the relationship between the number of veto players and mediation onset probability is curvilinear, with medium numbers of veto players increasing mediation incidence likelihood. Using data on mediation onsets in civil conflicts for the period 1946-2003, I find across different statistical model specifications that low and high numbers of veto players impede mediation onset. The models explain and predict mediation occurrence well, but are sensitive to model specifications, i.e. the exclusion of observations does not allow the model to reproduce the same results. The findings confirm the explanatory value of conflict costs and the benefits of a dyadic conflict analysis approach, yet suggest that more research on conflict actors’ characteristics is necessary to understand mediation.

This paper presents a gender analysis of the United Nations Security Council Resolution 1820(2008), the International Human Rights Law and the International Humanitarian Law. The study is regarding resolution 1820 as a breakthrough in the writings of legal documents that criminalizes sexual violence against women in internal armed conflict. Using textual analysis and a feminist theoretical approach the study highlights the construction of gender norms in the legal document. The study suggests that the narrative of legislative bodies of the IHL and IHRL is dominated by masculinity. Furthermore I am discussing if such norms are evident as a form of essentialism in the legal document, if essentialism is apparent in local and international juridical systems, and what effect does it have on the resolution 1820.

Esta pesquisa tem como objetivo central a identificação e análise dos principais atores e temas envolvidos na internacionalização do conflito armado na Colômbia. Este estudo entende por internacionalização a participação de atores estrangeiros na formulação e/ou implementação das tentativas de resolução do referido conflito. O recorte temporal pertinente aos propósitos da pesquisa estende-se do Governo César Gaviria (1990-1994) ao final do primeiro governo de Álvaro Uribe (2002-2006), na medida em que, no período anterior, não era possível observar um envolvimento externo considerável nos processos de paz na Colômbia. Os atores selecionados para uma análise mais atenta foram: EUA e OEA, cujas agendas correspondem à proposta hemisférica predominante; e UE e ONU, as quais representam as iniciativas globais voltadas à resolução do conflito. A principal conclusão deste estudo incide sobre o agrupamento das propostas internacionais em torno desses dois pólos: hemisféricas (das quais os EUA constituem o principal expoente) e globais (que têm na UE o seu ponto focal). A primeira é dotada de vultosos recursos, apresenta um caráter marcadamente militar e encontra na erradicação das drogas e no confronto às guerrilhas as suas principais estratégias. Por outro lado, o traço preponderante da segunda é a ênfase nos direitos humanos, na ajuda humanitária e na negociação com as guerrilhas. A proposta emergente do pólo europeu não foi capaz de oferecer um contra-peso à intervenção estadunidense, tanto em termos de recursos financeiros, como de fatores geopolíticos. Assim, a principal conclusão desta pesquisa é que a internacionalização do conflito armado não se manifesta de forma homogênea: embora a participação dos atores estrangeiros tenha ocorrido no âmbito global, as iniciativas hemisféricas são predominantes, especialmente se analisarmos as preferências do governo colombiano. / This study aims to identify and analyze the main actors and themes related to the Colombian armed conflict internationalization. It understands internationalization as the participation of foreign players in the designing and implementation of programs regarding the resolution of the conflict. The period of interest to this study dates back to the government César Gaviria (1990-1994) until the end of the first Álvaro Uribe administration, since there was no considerable external participation on Colombia peace processes previously. The selected players for a more detailed approach were: US and OAS, whose agendas correspond to the predominant proposal in the hemisphere; and EU and UN, which represent the global initiatives towards the conflict resolution. The main conclusion of this study is related to the concentration of international proposals around these poles: hemispheric (whose main exponent is the US) and global (concentrated on EU). The first involves a huge amount of resources, presents a markedly military aspect and privileges the illicit crops eradication and confrontation against guerrillas as strategies. On the other hand, the dominant characteristic of the second is the emphasis on human rights, humanitarian aid and the negotiation with the guerrillas. The proposal that emerged from Europe was not able to offer compensation to American intervention in terms of financial resources and geopolitical factors. Therefore, the main conclusion of this study is that the internationalization of the armed conflict is not homogeneous throughout the world: the participation of external actors is global, but the hemispherical initiatives are predominant, especially if we consider Colombian governments preferences.

<p>“Armaments and Economic Performance”. The literature on military expenditure (milex) is scrutinized with respect to five areas. <i>Investment</i> is reduced when milex increases. Most studies have found <i>economic growth </i>hindered by higher milex. No clear association between milex and <i>employment</i> is found. However, the same amount of other public expenditure creates more jobs. There is some evidence for milex as <i>counter-cyclical instrument</i> in the US. The result for studies if milex is used in <i>electoral cycles</i> in the US is contradictory. Disaggregated data are emphasized as a possible solution to get more definite results.</p><p>“The Economic Costs of Civil Wars”. The empirical studies of the economic costs of internal armed conflicts are divided into <i>accounting</i> and <i>modelling</i> methods. Cost is seen as the difference between the counterfactual production without conflict and the actual production. The average economic cost of internal armed conflict is a 3.7% yearly reduction of GDP. There are large differences between the estimates. One of the reasons for pursuing such studies is to give improved basis for more cost-effective post-conflict reconstruction, which is better achieved with an accounting method.</p><p>“War and Economic Performance – Different Data, Different Conclusions?” This article studies the importance of armed conflict for economic growth by replicating an earlier analysis with new data on conflicts. The basic model investigates how conflicts in 1960-1974 affect economic growth in 1975-1989. Koubi finds that “wars are conducive to higher growth”. Koubi’s finding is confirmed when different conflict data is used in a similar research design.</p><p>“The Role of External Factors in Economic Growth: A Comparative Analysis of Thailand and the Philippines 1950-1990”. Can differences in economic performance be explained by external factors? Both historical and regression analyses are utilised to answer the question. Three external factors are analysed: <i>International trade, foreign direct investment</i>, and <i>external debt</i>. In the regression analysis none of the external factors qualify as statistically significant. The historical analysis finds two external factors discriminating between the two countries. Thus, they might explain the differing growth rates of Thailand and the Philippines: Manufactured exports and external debt.</p>