Humanitarian Rationality - A rational analysis of humanitarian restrictions on warfare

Sammanfattning: This thesis uses some key aspects of game theory-related research concerning the Cold War by re-interpreting it in a more generally applicable way. Three such key aspects, defined as the reciprocity factor, the rule complexity factor and the unrestricted destabilising measures factor, are then used to explain how likely restrictions on warfare are to persist for purely rational reasons. The essence of the theory is that restrictions on warfare for humanitarian reasons can be explained in rational terms. Furthermore, using game theory, the likelihood of a given restriction to be respected is measured. The theory is applied to a comparative study of two cases; the German chemical warfare and submarine warfare strategies during World War II. These two cases have much in common but the outcome was totally different. The differences between the cases are used to illustrate the theory.