Genocide and War

1
Genocide and War

• Dr. Steven M. Hays
• BKHS
• Leadership and Ethics
• Spring 2014

2
GENOCIDE

• Genocide An attempt to eliminate, in whole or
  in large part, a particular group of people (such
  as national, ethnic, racial, religious, social,
  or political groups).
• Mass Murder The intentional killing of a large
  number of people who are either unwilling or
  unable to defend themselves.
• Ethnic Cleansing The attempt to remove a
  particular group of people from a particular
  geographic area through the use of terror.
• Discrimination Positive or negative behavior
  toward a particular group
• rules or laws directed against a group or its
  members
• or practices that subordinate people of a
  particular group.
• positive behaviors, policies and practices that
  systematically advantage one group over another.

3
Genocide and Mass Murder

• MASS MURDER
• Slave Trade
• (U.S. many W. European countries)
• _at_1600-1850
• KILLED_at_20 MILLION
• Turks
• Armenians, 1890s
• KILLED 300-400,000

• GENOCIDE
• Nazis (1933-1945)
• Jews, Gypsies, gays lesbians, communists,
  mentally ill
• KILLED _at_11 MILLION
• Turks Armenians in WWI (1914-1918)
• KILLED_at_2 MILLION

4
Ethnic Cleansing and Discrimination

• DISCRIMINATION
• History of many non-Northern European groups in
  U.S.
• -- Irish, Italians, eastern Europeans, Jews,
  African-Americans, Latinos, Asians, etc.
• Women around the world
• Hindu Caste system

• ETHNIC CLEANSING
• U.S. Native Americans
• Pop. of NAs reduced from about 2million to
  500,000 over 300 years.
  -- mass murder -- starvation --
  war -- forced removals -- disease
• Yugoslavia Serbs in Bosnia
  (1980s,1990s) -- terror, expulsion, and
  thousands found in mass graves

5
Discrimination
Ethnic Cleansing
Geno- cide
Mass murder
1. Genocide is a type of ethnic cleansing, mass
murder, and discrim. 2. Ethnic cleansing is a
type of discrimination. 3. Mass murder can be
used for genocide and ethnic cleansing, but can
also occur for reasons other than genocide,
ethnic cleansing, and discrimination. 4. There
are many types of discrimination that have
nothing to do with genocide, ethnic cleansing, or
mass murder.
6
Democide

• Democide The murder of any person or people by a
  government, including genocide, politicide, and
  mass murder

7
Relationships between Democide, Mass Murder, and
Genocide
Democide
Genocide
mass murder
All genocides are democides. Most mass murder is
democide. Some mass murder is genocide, but some
is not.
8
Mass Murder and Genocide in the 20th Century

• TOTALITARIAN REGIMES
• USSR, 1917-1987 62,000,000
• Chinese Communists, 1923-1987 39,000,000
• Nazi Germany, 1933-1945 21,000,000
• AUTHORITARIAN REGIMES
• Chinese Nationalists, 1928-1949 10,000,000
• Japan, 1936-1945 6,000,000
• Turkey, 1909-1923 2,600,000
• Cambodia, 1975-1980 2,000,000
• Note These numbers are best guesstimates. In
  most cases, because of denials, secrecy, and
  coverups, it is impossible to know the exact
  number with precision.

9
Mass Killing is Common in Africa

• Congo
• 4 million deaths since 1998, prompted by endless
  fighting between armed gangs/warlords.
• Sudan (Darfur)
• 800,000 dead since 2002, in tribal/religious
  warfare/genocide
• Uganda
• Idi Amin (dictator) killed 400,000 of his own
  people in the 1970s and 1980s. (Last King of
  Scotland)
• Since 2002, another 100,000 dead from rebellion
  in North.
• Nigerian Civil War (1970s)
• 400,000 dead
• Rwanda (1990s)
• 800,000 dead (about half from govt-sponsored
  genocide)
• (Hotel Rwanda)

10
Civilian Death Tolls by Democracies vs.
Totalitarian/Authoritarian Regimes in WWII

• Numbers Approximate
• Civilian Dead Resulting from Civilian Dead
  Resulting from
• Allied invasionbombing of
  Germany
• German Invasion, mass murder Total German
  civilian dead
• _at_21 million _at_2 million
• Allied bombing
  (including nuclear)
• 
  of Japanese
  cities
• Japanese Invasion, mass murder Total Japanese
  civilian dead
• _at_20 million _at_600,000

11
Civilian Deaths in the Modern Middle East, since
1975

• Authoritarian Regimes
• Ethiopia 800,000 (class enemies, Eritrean war)
• Iraq 100,000 (Kurds, Shiites, Kuwaitis)
• Iran 60,000 (Kurds, Bahai, Monarchists)
• Sudan 2,000,000 (Darfur, Africans, Christians)
• Syria 21,000 Kurds, Sunnis
• Democracy
• Israel _at_15,000 (Palestinians, Lebanese)

12
Civilian Deaths by Authoritarian Regimes vs.
Democracies
WWII Modern Middle East
Authoritarian/Totalitarian Regimes 35 million 3 million
Democracies 2.5-3 million _at_15,000

• llustrates two key points
• War pushes democracies in an authoritarian
  direction
• Democracies kill civilians mostly during wars
• Willingness to cause and justify civilian deaths
• Democracies almost never commit mass murder of
  their own people, whereas authoritarian and
  totalitarian regimes frequently do so.