This research line builds on this research but focuses on a practice that has been neglected and understudied: punishment, i.e. the intentional infliction of harm against someone or an entity (a state) that violated a social norm. Social psychologists have demonstrated that punitive instincts are hard-wired, which implies that they are there to stay for the foreseeable future. At the same time, historians, ethnographers and social scientists have shown that punitive practices differ enormously across time and space. What is more, there are reasons to believe that punitive practices have become more humanitarian.
Whereas the majority of research has focused on the transformation of punitive practices and criminal justice reform within states, punitive motives of using force internationally have hardly been examined. We see great potential in examining punitive practices in international law, governance and politics and to study the role of politics and international organisations in deligitimising some forms of punishment and accepting others. The main research question we want to study is twofold: Empirically, we examine the role of punitive motives in the current use of force by states and international organisations. Although we do not claim that all uses of armed force result from punitive motivations, we think that many decisions to use force have been partly motivated by outrage about violations of core community norms (such as genocide; ethnic cleansing or the development or use of weapons of mass destruction). Since the end of the Cold War, we have seen a strengthening of international norms about the use of violence (e.g. the Responsibility to Protect or the criminalization of aggression), which raises the question whether these norms can be upheld and enforced without using force. Normatively, we are interested whether the punitive drives that can be channeled in a way that make them socially productive, or at least minimize the harm they often bring about. Historically, we focus on changes and differences over time: has punishment really become more humanitarian?
Research team: Prof. Dr. Wolfgang Wagner, Dr. Jan Willem van Prooijen, Linet Durmusoglu, Prof. Dr. Wouter Werner, Dr. Barbora Hola & Dr. Ronald Kroeze