Why Not Kill Them All?: The Logic and Prevention of Mass Political Murder

Coperta unu
Princeton University Press, 2 sept. 2008 - 288 pagini

Genocide, mass murder, massacres. The words themselves are chilling, evoking images of the slaughter of countless innocents. What dark impulses lurk in our minds that even today can justify the eradication of thousands and even millions of unarmed human beings caught in the crossfire of political, cultural, or ethnic hostilities? This question lies at the heart of Why Not Kill Them All? Cowritten by historical sociologist Daniel Chirot and psychologist Clark McCauley, the book goes beyond exploring the motives that have provided the psychological underpinnings for genocidal killings. It offers a historical and comparative context that adds up to a causal taxonomy of genocidal events.

Rather than suggesting that such horrors are the product of abnormal or criminal minds, the authors emphasize the normality of these horrors: killing by category has occurred on every continent and in every century. But genocide is much less common than the imbalance of power that makes it possible. Throughout history human societies have developed techniques aimed at limiting intergroup violence. Incorporating ethnographic, historical, and current political evidence, this book examines the mechanisms of constraint that human societies have employed to temper partisan passions and reduce carnage.

Might an understanding of these mechanisms lead the world of the twenty-first century away from mass murder? Why Not Kill Them All? makes clear that there are no simple solutions, but that progress is most likely to be made through a combination of international pressures, new institutions and laws, and education. If genocide is to become a grisly relic of the past, we must fully comprehend the complex history of violent conflict and the struggle between hatred and tolerance that is waged in the human heart.

Din interiorul cărții

Pagini selectate

Cuprins

Are We Killers or Peacemakers?
1
Why Genocides? Are They Different Now Than in the Past?
11
The Psychological Foundations of Genocidal Killing
51
Why Is Limited Warfare More Common Than Genocide?
95
Strategies to Decrease the Chances of Mass Political Murder in Our Time
149
Our Question Answered
211
References
219
Index
249
Drept de autor

Alte ediții - Afișează-le pe toate

Termeni și expresii frecvente

Despre autor (2008)

Daniel Chirot is Professor of International Studies and Sociology at the University of Washington. His books include "Modern Tyrants" (Princeton) and "How Societies Change". Clark McCauley is Professor of Psychology at Bryn Mawr College, Director of the Solomon Asch Center for Study of Ethnopolitical Conflict at the University of Pennsylvania, and a Co-Director of the National Consortium for the Study of Terrorism and Responses to Terrorism.

Informații bibliografice