Author Archives: Christiane Wilke

About Christiane Wilke

Christiane Wilke is an Associate Professor in the Department of Law and Legal Studies at Carleton University. She has received her PhD in Political Science from the New School for Social Research and has published her research on state violence, memory, and legal redress in journals such as Journal of Human Rights, Social & Legal Studies, and London Review of International Law. Her current research project examines how civilian victims of airstrikes are counted and taken into consideration in accountability measures.

Counting Conflict: Quantifying Civilian Casualties in Afghanistan

Abstract: Civilian casualty counts are products of specific methods, epistemologies, standards of proofs, and definitions. This article analyzes how the US military and the United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan assess civilian casualties. These counts are based on different and contestable concepts of who counts as a civilian, what counts as conflict violence, and what counts of evidence of civilian casualties. We illustrate this argument with four examples: the distinction between direct and indirect deaths, the boundary between civilians and non-civilians, the boundary between conflict Continue reading → Continue reading →