2026-09-23T19:29:51Z https://opus4.kobv.de/opus4-uni-passau/oai

oai:kobv.de-opus4-uni-passau:1576 2025-08-26 bibliography:false doc-type:PhDThesis open_access ddc ddc:320

Protection of Civilians in Armed Conflict: Safe Areas and the Silencing of Mass Atrocities 0000-0003-4019-5407 Robin Hering 320 Zivilbevölkerung Schutzzone Außenpolitik Schweigen Völkermord Protection of Civilians Mass Atrocities Foreign Policy Analysis Safe Areas Silencing 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. Universität Passau Passau Innstrasse 29, 94032 Passau Bernhard Stahl Hartwig Hummel 2025-02-07 2025-04-25 PhDThesis Text urn:nbn:de:bvb:739-opus4-15765 application/pdf eng Standardbedingung laut Einverständniserklärung thesis.doctoral Universität Passau Passau Sozial- und Bildungswissenschaftliche Fakultät 1 https://opus4.kobv.de/opus4-uni-passau/oai/container/index/docId/1576 https://opus4.kobv.de/opus4-uni-passau/frontdoor/index/index/docId/1576