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Subproject A01
Securitisation by Holding Hostages in the Early Modern Period

2. Funding period (2018-2021)

In the second funding period, the subproject examines security-relevant situations in the context of war, reprisals, and occupation in the early modern period, in which hostage taking and hostage taking were used. The first question is why and under which conditions warring actors resorted to this repertoire in order to react to insecurity, which was caused by the danger of violent resistance or the lack of access after the withdrawal of troops. Second, heuristics from the ranks of the affected hostile collectives and their resulting handling of the situation will be examined.
The fundamental criterion here is the aspect of representation: This is intended to distinguish those cases in which hostages were provided or taken on behalf of a city or territory in order to secure contractually agreed upon tribute payments from the capture of individuals by smaller war detachments for the purpose of extorting ransoms.

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