Academic Monograph Series | School of Humanitarian Studies
Recommended citation:
Saragih, B. (2026). Humanizing Warfare: The Sitou Timou Tumou Tou Philosophy and Armed Conflicts Around the World.
ISBN 9798235528628 | Search via ISBN on Google
Abstract & Description
What if the laws of war could be obeyed not out of fear of punishment, but from an inner call to remain human?
Humanizing Warfare takes you on a journey through armed conflicts across the globe — from Sudan, Syria, Ukraine, and Colombia to refugee camps in Germany and the South China Sea disputes. This monograph analyzes pressing challenges facing International Humanitarian Law (IHL): hybrid actors like maritime militias, weaponization of displacement, psychological trauma of refugees, casualty counting politics, civilian hackers, and autonomous weapons.
At its heart, the book introduces the Minahasan philosophy Sitou Timou Tumou Tou — "humans live to humanize others" — formulated by Dr. Sam Ratulangi. This philosophy argues that my own humanity depends on my treatment of the enemy. To dehumanize the other is to destroy the self. Bridging Western legal positivism and Global South epistemologies, it proposes an "ethics of identity" over "ethics of restraint." Essential for humanitarian practitioners, military personnel, and scholars.