The Dark Side of Democracy

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The Dark Side of Democracy
The Dark Side of Democracy book cover.jpg
Author Michael_Mann_(sociologist)
GenrePolitical Sociology, Sociology
PublisherCambridge University Press
Publication date
2004
ISBN 978-0-511-81727-4

The Dark Side of Democracy: Explaining Ethnic Cleansing is a 2005 book by Michael Mann which argues that democracy often leads to violent ethnic cleansing to make the nation more ethnically homogenous. Mann's argument was described as a provocative challenge to positive views of democracy. [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] [7] [8] [9] [10] However, one reviewer stated that in his book Mann often qualified the linkage of democracy and ethnic cleansing, to the extent that the principal argument in the book could be summarized as "in all periods in human history political leaders have ordered or tolerated the murder of subsets of their populations", but in recent times victims are targeted for their membership in an ethnic group rather than place of residence or religion. [11]

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Democide refers to "the intentional killing of an unarmed or disarmed person by government agents acting in their authoritative capacity and pursuant to government policy or high command." The term was first coined by Holocaust historian and statistics expert, R.J. Rummel in his book Death by Government, but has also been described as a better term than genocide to refer to certain types of mass killings, by renowned Holocaust historian Yehuda Bauer. According to Rummel, this definition covers a wide range of deaths, including forced labor and concentration camp victims, extrajudicial summary killings, and mass deaths due to governmental acts of criminal omission and neglect, such as in deliberate famines like the Holodomor, as well as killings by de facto governments, for example, killings during a civil war. This definition covers any murder of any number of persons by any government.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ethnic cleansing</span> Systematic removal of a certain ethnic or religious group

Ethnic cleansing is the systematic forced removal of ethnic, racial, or religious groups from a given area, with the intent of making the society ethnically homogeneous. Along with direct removal such as deportation or population transfer, it also includes indirect methods aimed at forced migration by coercing the victim group to flee and preventing its return, such as murder, rape, and property destruction. Both the definition and charge of ethnic cleansing is often disputed, with some researchers including and others excluding coercive assimilation or mass killings as a means of depopulating an area of a particular group.

Mass killing is a concept which has been proposed by genocide scholars who wish to define incidents of non-combat killing which are perpetrated by a government or a state. A mass killing is commonly defined as the killing of group members without the intention to eliminate the whole group, or otherwise the killing of large numbers of people without a clear group membership.

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Greek genocide</span> 1913–1922 genocide of Greek Christians in the Ottoman Empire

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Classicide is a concept proposed by sociologist Michael Mann to describe the deliberate and systematic destruction, in whole or in part, of a social class through persecution and violence. Although it was first used by physician and anti-communist activist Fred Schwarz in 1972, classicide was popularized by Mann as a term that is similar to but distinct from genocide because it means the "intended mass killing of entire social classes." Classicide is considered a form of "premeditated mass killing", which is narrower than genocide, because the target of a classicide is a part of a population which is defined by its social status, and classicide is also considered broader than politicide because the group which is targeted for classicide is killed without any concern for its political activities.

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Genocide is the intentional destruction of a people in whole or in part. The term was coined in 1944 by Raphael Lemkin. It is defined in Article 2 of the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide (CPPCG) of 1948 as "any of the following acts committed with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial, or religious group, as such: killing members of the group; causing serious bodily or mental harm to members of the group; deliberately inflicting on the group's conditions of life, calculated to bring about its physical destruction in whole or in part; imposing measures intended to prevent births within the group; [and] forcibly transferring children of the group to another group."

This is a select bibliography of English language books and journal articles about the history of Belarus. A brief selection of English translations of primary sources is included. Book entries have references to journal articles and reviews about them when helpful. Additional bibliographies can be found in many of the book-length works listed below. The External links section contains entries for publicly available select bibliographies from universities.

References

  1. Breuilly, John; Cesarani, David; Malesevic, Sinisa; Neuberger, Benyamin; Mann, Michael (2006). "Debate On Michael Mann's The Dark Side of Democracy: Explaining Ethnic Cleansing". Nations and Nationalism. 12 (3): 389–411. doi:10.1111/j.1469-8129.2006.00251.x.
  2. Glassheim, Eagle (2006). "The Dark Side of Democracy: Explaining Ethnic Cleansing". Central European History. 39 (3): 519–521. doi:10.1017/S0008938906320171. S2CID   145662288.
  3. Torpey, John (2005). "Understanding Ethnic Cleansing: The Dark Side of Democracy: Explaining Ethnic Cleansing by Michael Mann Cambridge University Press, 2004, 590 pages". Contexts. 4 (3): 60–62. doi: 10.1525/ctx.2005.4.3.60 . S2CID   61720302.
  4. Weitz, Eric D. (2005). "The Dark Side of Democracy: Explaining Ethnic Cleansing". The American Historical Review. 110 (4): 1138–1139. doi:10.1086/ahr.110.4.1138. S2CID   165924387.
  5. Burke, John Francis (2007). "The Dark Side of Democracy: Michael Mann. The Dark Side of Democracy: Explaining Ethnic Cleansing . New York: Cambridge University Press, 2004". History: Reviews of New Books. 35 (3): 89–91. doi:10.3200/HIST.35.3.89-91. S2CID   142981229.
  6. Suzuki, Susumu (November 2005). "Review of Mann, Michael, The Dark Side of Democracy: Explaining Ethnic Cleansing and Mills, Nicolaus; Brunner, Kira, eds., The New Killing Fields: Massacre and the Politics of Intervention". H-Genocide, H-Review. Retrieved 16 January 2021.
  7. Magid, Itamar (2010). "Review: The Dark Side of Democracy: Explaining Ethnic Cleansing". Amsterdam Law Forum. 2 (3): 107. doi: 10.37974/ALF.139 .
  8. Alvarez, A. (2007). "The Dark Side of Democracy: Explaining Ethnic Cleansing, Michael Mann (New York: Cambridge University Press, 2005), 590 pp., cloth $70.00, 584 pp., pbk. $24.99". Holocaust and Genocide Studies. 21 (1): 156–158. doi:10.1093/hgs/dcm019.
  9. Suny, Ronald Grigor (2006). "The Dark Side of Democracy: Explaining Ethnic Cleansing. By Michael Mann (New York, Cambridge University Press, 2005) 590 pp. $70.00". The Journal of Interdisciplinary History. 37 (1): 92–94. doi:10.1162/jinh.2006.37.1.92. S2CID   145149207.
  10. Berns-McGown, Rima (2005). "Review: A Century of Genocide, the Dark Side of Democracy". International Journal: Canada's Journal of Global Policy Analysis. 60 (4): 1170–1173. doi:10.1177/002070200506000424. S2CID   149432173.
  11. Laitin, David (2006). "Mann's dark side: linking democracy and genocide". An Anatomy of Power: The Social Theory of Michael Mann. Cambridge University Press. pp. 328–340. ISBN   978-0-521-85000-1.