Publication

This paper focuses on the increasingly difficult problem of detaining combatants in today's wars. It specifically argues that 1) the concept of captivity contains certain dilemmas for the modern combatant; 2) future attempts to surrender may become the exception rather than the rule for international and sub-state conflicts; and 3) such a development should be actively discouraged. A force that takes captives, after all, gains needed intelligence information; lowers the possibility of fanatical, last-chance enemy resistance; decreases casualty rates; and in the case of the hard power-centered US, helps it retain its humanitarian credentials.