The Killing Trap: Genocide in the Twentieth Century

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Cambridge University Press, Oct 20, 2005 - Political Science - 463 pages
The Killing Trap, first published in 2005, offers a comparative analysis of the genocides, politicides and ethnic cleansings of the twentieth century, which are estimated to have cost upwards of forty million lives. The book seeks to understand both the occurrence and magnitude of genocide, based on the conviction that such comparative analysis may contribute towards prevention of genocide in the future. Manus Midlarsky compares socio-economic circumstances and international contexts and includes in his analysis the Jews of Europe, Armenians in the Ottoman Empire, Tutsi in Rwanda, black Africans in Darfur, Cambodians, Bosnians, and the victims of conflict in Ireland. The occurrence of genocide is explained by means of a framework that gives equal emphasis to the non-occurrence of genocide, a critical element not found in other comparisons, and victims are given a prominence equal to that of perpetrators in understanding the magnitude of genocide.
 

Contents

Preliminary considerations
3
Case selection
22
Case selection
23
Continuity and validation
43
Prologue to theory
64
Continuity and validation
83
Prologue to theory
93
Threat of numbers realpolitik and ethnic cleansing
113
Raison détat raison déglise
211
Raison détat raison déglise
235
Cynical realpolitik and the unwanted
237
the role of realpolitik
250
Inequality and absence of identification
264
Inequality and absence of identification
271
On the possibility of revolt and altruistic punishment
287
the Cambodian politicide
309

Threat of numbers realpolitik and ethnic cleansing
115
Realpolitik and loss
135
Realpolitik and loss
137
The need for unity and altruistic punishment
169
The need for unity and altruistic punishment
171
Perpetrating states
193
Perpetrating states
194
realpolitik and the absence
325
affinity and vulnerability
335
Findings consequences and prevention
369
References
396
Index
423
Copyright

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About the author (2005)

Manus I. Midlarsky is the Moses and Annuta Back Professor of International Peace and Conflict Resolution at Rutgers University, New Brunswick. He has authored or edited eleven books and 65 articles and book chapters. His publications include The Evolution of Inequality: War, State Survival, and Democracy in Comparative Perspectives and the edited volumes Inequality, Democracy, and Economic Development (Cambridge, 1997), and the Handbook of War Studies II.