1.

Record Nr.

UNINA9910823086003321

Autore

Drohan Brian <1983->

Titolo

Brutality in an age of human rights : activism and counterinsurgency at the end of the British empire / / Brian Drohan

Pubbl/distr/stampa

Ithaca, New York ; ; London, [England] : , : Cornell University Press, , 2017

©2017

ISBN

1-5017-1467-8

Descrizione fisica

1 online resource (257 pages) : illustrations, maps

Disciplina

355.021809171209045

Soggetti

Counterinsurgency - Cyprus

Counterinsurgency - Yemen (Republic) - Yemen, South

Counterinsurgency - Northern Ireland

Human rights - Cyprus

Human rights - Yemen (Republic) - Yemen, South

Human rights - Northern Ireland

Postcolonialism - Great Britain

Cyprus History War for Union with Greece, 1955-1959

Yemen (Arab Republic) History 1962-1970

Northern Ireland History 1968-1998

Lingua di pubblicazione

Inglese

Formato

Materiale a stampa

Livello bibliografico

Monografia

Note generali

Previously issued in print: 2018.

Nota di bibliografia

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Nota di contenuto

Frontmatter -- Contents -- Acknowledgments -- Maps -- Introduction -- 1. A Lawyers' War -- 2. The Shadow of Strasbourg -- 3. "Hunger War" -- 4. "This Unhappy Affair" -- 5. "A More Talkative Place" -- Conclusion -- Notes -- Bibliography -- Index

Sommario/riassunto

In Brutality in an Age of Human Rights, Brian Drohan demonstrates that British officials' choices concerning counterinsurgency methods have long been deeply influenced or even redirected by the work of human rights activists. To reveal how that influence was manifested by military policies and practices, Drohan examines three British counterinsurgency campaigns-Cyprus (1955-1959), Aden (1963-1967), and the peak of the "Troubles" in Northern Ireland (1969-1976).



This book is enriched by Drohan's use of a newly available collection of 1.2 million colonial-era files, International Committee of the Red Cross files, the extensive Troubles collection at Linen Hall Library in Belfast, and many other sources.Drohan argues that when faced with human rights activism, British officials sought to evade, discredit, and deflect public criticism of their actions to avoid drawing attention to brutal counterinsurgency practices such as the use of torture during interrogation. Some of the topics discussed in the book, such as the use of violence against civilians, the desire to uphold human rights values while simultaneously employing brutal methods, and the dynamic of wars waged in the glare of the media, are of critical interest to scholars, lawyers, and government officials dealing with the conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan, and those to come in the future.