ABSTRACT
In the long millennia since war began as an organized human activity, people – whether individual thinkers, rulers, or social groupings – have sought to impose bounds on its destructiveness. War nonetheless consistently overflows the limits prescribed for it, devastating societies and killing many who have little if any direct connection to the fighting. The question thus arises: how do norms regulating warfare become effective? How do ethical constraints make the transition from idealized standards to practical realities?
