Reigns of terror [[electronic resource] /] / Patricia Marchak

• Autore: Marchak M. Patricia
• Pubblicazione: Montreal ; ; Ithaca, : McGill-Queen's University Press, 2003
• Descrizione fisica: 1 online resource (321 p.)
• Disciplina: 304.6/63/0904
• Soggetto topico: Crimes against humanity; Genocide - Sociological aspects; Genocide - History - 20th century; Political atrocities - History - 20th century
• Note generali: Bibliographic Level Mode of Issuance: Monograph
• Nota di bibliografia: Includes bibliographical references and index.
• Nota di contenuto: Front Matter -- Contents -- Preface -- Acknowledgments -- An Argument about Conditions Leading to Crimes against Humanity -- States, Armed Force, and Unequal Citizens -- Racism and Identity -- Racism and Identity -- Culture and Ideology -- Who Are the Ordinary Men? -- The Janus State and the Problem of Intervention -- Case Studies -- Ottoman Empire, 1915-16 -- The USSR , 1932-33 -- Nazi Germany, 1933-45 -- Burundi and Rwanda,1972-95 -- Burundi and Rwanda,1972-95 -- Cambodia, 1975-79 -- Argentina, 1976-83 -- Yugoslavia, 1990-94 -- Epilogue -- References -- Index
• Sommario/riassunto: Marchak departs significantly from mainstream explanations of genocide, rejecting racism as a fundamental cause and disputing a wide range of other explanations that cite racist and religious ideologies, perception of threat, authoritarianism, and unique historical circumstances as primary causes. She argues that while these variables may be contributing factors, states move toward human rights crimes because their governments can no longer sustain a particular social hierarchy. Reasons for their paralysis may be economic, environmental, demographic, or purely political. In an attempt to re-establish the former status quo, they turn against groups low on the hierarchical scale, some of which may be defined in ethnic terms. If governments come into power as revolutionary forces, they may commit such crimes in order to establish a new social hierarchy. Other necessary but insufficient conditions for state crimes include the military capacity for committing mass murder, the creation of ideology that justifies such action, and the failure of independent institutions such as the mass media and universities to counter ideological and military forces. Reigns of Terror is highly accessible and aimed at an audience of senior undergraduates, graduate students, and faculty in the social sciences, as well as a more general reading public concerned about the many state-sponsored crimes against humanity still occurring in the world.
• Titolo autorizzato: Reigns of terror
• ISBN: 1-282-86161-1; 9786612861611; 0-7735-7160-4
• Formato: Materiale a stampa
• Livello bibliografico: Monografia
• Lingua di pubblicazione: Inglese
• Record Nr.: 9910810301303321
• Lo trovi qui: Univ. Federico II