David Traven

As a postdoctoral fellow at CISAC, I am currently preparing a book manuscript on the evolution of civilian protection norms in international politics. In this book, I argue that moral psychology and emotions shaped the creation of the regime for protecting the victims of war. Since many IR theorists believe that moral intuitions have little to no effect on strategic decision-making in war, in this part of my project I am using survey experiments to understand how moral intuitions and emotions shape individual judgments on military strategies that lead to civilian casualties. I have two main hypotheses: (1) I hypothesize that inducing respondents to take the perspective of non-combatants will alter how they calculate the strategic benefits and costs of military policies, and in particular it will reduce their calculations of perceived benefits, yet increase their calculations of perceived costs; and (2) I hypothesize that induced empathy will encourage respondents to be more inclined to view the civilian casualties that result from specific tactics as intentional. This survey experiment will make two main contributions to international relations scholarship. First, it will help resolve the debate over whether strategic calculations or moral norms shape decisions to use force. If (1) is correct, this will show that moral capacities such as perspective-taking and empathy do in fact shape conceptions of self-interest. Second, this study will help international legal scholars understand how people judge whether civilian deaths were intended or not, which is crucial for determining whether war crimes have taken place.