Genocide and War
Dr. Steven M. Hays
BKHS
Leadership and Ethics
Spring 2014
GENOCIDE
O 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).
O Mass Murder: The intentional killing of a large number of
people who are either unwilling or unable to defend
themselves.
O Ethnic Cleansing: The attempt to remove a particular group
of people from a particular geographic area through the
use of terror.
O 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.
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Genocide and Mass Murder
O GENOCIDE
O MASS MURDER
O Nazis: (1933-1945)
O Slave Trade
O Jews, Gypsies, gays &
O (U.S. & many W.
lesbians, communists,
mentally ill
O KILLED: @11 MILLION
European countries):
O @1600-1850
O KILLED:@20 MILLION
O Turks: Armenians in WWI
(1914-1918)
O KILLED:@2 MILLION
O Turks
O Armenians, 1890s
O KILLED 300-400,000
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Ethnic Cleansing and
Discrimination
O ETHNIC CLEANSING
O DISCRIMINATION
O U.S. & Native Americans
O Pop. of NAs reduced from
about 2million to 500,000
over 300 years.
-- mass murder -- starvation
-- war -- forced removals
-- disease
O Yugoslavia
Serbs in Bosnia
(1980s,1990s) -- terror,
expulsion, and thousands
found in mass graves
O History of many non-
Northern European
groups in U.S.
O -- Irish, Italians, eastern
Europeans, Jews, AfricanAmericans, Latinos,
Asians, etc.
O Women around the world
O Hindu Caste system
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Ethnic
GenocideCleansing
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
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genocide, ethnic cleansing, or mass murder.
Democide
O Democide: The murder of any person or
people by a government, including genocide,
politicide, and mass murder
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Relationships between Democide, Mass Murder,
and Genocide
Democide
Genocide
All genocides are democides.
Most mass murder is democide.
Some mass murder is genocide, but some is not.
mass
murder
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Mass Murder and Genocide in the
20th Century
O
O
O
O
TOTALITARIAN REGIMES
USSR, 1917-1987
Chinese Communists, 1923-1987
Nazi Germany, 1933-1945
62,000,000
39,000,000
21,000,000
O
O
O
O
O
AUTHORITARIAN REGIMES
Chinese Nationalists, 1928-1949
Japan, 1936-1945
Turkey, 1909-1923
Cambodia, 1975-1980
10,000,000
6,000,000
2,600,000
2,000,000
O 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.
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Mass Killing is Common in Africa
O
O
Congo
4 million deaths since 1998, prompted by endless fighting
between armed gangs/warlords.
O
O
Sudan (Darfur)
800,000 dead since 2002, in tribal/religious warfare/genocide
O
O
O
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.
O
O
Nigerian Civil War (1970s)
400,000 dead
O
O
O
Rwanda (1990s)
800,000 dead (about half from gov’t-sponsored genocide)
(Hotel Rwanda)
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Civilian Death Tolls by Democracies vs.
Totalitarian/Authoritarian Regimes in
WWII
O Numbers Approximate
O Civilian Dead Resulting from
O German Invasion, mass murder:
O @21 million
Civilian Dead Resulting from
Allied invasion&bombing of
Germany
Total German civilian dead:
@2 million
O
O
O Japanese Invasion, mass murder:
O @20 million
Allied bombing (including nuclear)
of Japanese cities
Total Japanese civilian dead:
@600,000
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Civilian Deaths in the Modern
Middle East,
since 1975
O Authoritarian Regimes:
O Ethiopia: 800,000 (“class enemies,” Eritrean war)
O Iraq: 100,000 (Kurds, Shi’ites, Kuwaitis)
O Iran: 60,000 (Kurds, Bahai, Monarchists)
O Sudan: 2,000,000 (Darfur, Africans, Christians)
O Syria: 21,000 Kurds, Sunnis
O Democracy:
O Israel: @15,000 (Palestinians, Lebanese)
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Civilian Deaths by
Authoritarian Regimes vs. Democracies
Authoritarian/Totalitarian
Regimes
Democracies
O
1.
•
•
2.
WWII
Modern
Middle East
35 million
3 million
2.5-3 million
@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.
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