Forgotten Times and Forgotten Crimes: a qualitative cross-case comparison on why certain actors systematically target cultural heritage during conflict, while others do not

Why do certain actors systematically target cultural heritage during conflict, while others do not? This is the puzzle examined in this study. Previous research on the phenomenon is scarce and few if any cross-case comparisons have been made. As such, this study tries to provide more research on the topic in general, while also trying to fill the gap caused by the lack of comparative studies. The hypothesis H1 examined in this study is the following: “Higher levels of religiosity within an actor lead to higher levels of deliberate targeting of cultural heritage”. Hence, the argument is that the levels of religiosity may explain why certain actors target cultural heritage as well as to what extent they did. The proposed causal mechanism is that religious actors target cultural heritage to religiously homogenize the land they intend to annex. To examine this proposition, a qualitative cross-case comparison between three different armed actors involved in the Syrian Civil War was done. The actors analyzed were the Peoples Defense Unit (YPG), Jabhat al-Nusra (JAN), and the Islamic State (IS). The method used to collect data was that of a structured focused comparison, while Mill’s method of difference was used to examine it. The empirical results showed that the secular YPG targeted 0 cultural heritage sites, the highly religious JAN 18 sites, while the extremist IS targeted the most sites, 61. Furthermore, JAN and IS predominately targeted cultural heritage sites that belonged to other religions and sects than their own. Thus, the findings lend support to hypothesis H1 as well as the theory. However, due to certain methodological issues andpotential alternative explanations, this result should be viewed as preliminary.