Dictionary of Genocide - D Ank Unlimited

IMPERIALISM
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In large measure, the Biafran genocide and the Nigerian Civil War have effectively
been written out of history, overshadowed by events such as the Vietnam War, the various
Middle East conflicts, the end of the Cold War, and the genocidal outbreaks of the
last two decades in Iraq, Rwanda, Bosnia-Herzegovina, East Timor, and Darfur.
Imperialism. A political and economic philosophy whereby a powerful state extends its
control, directly or indirectly, over another (quantifiably weaker) state or territory. Such
extension of control can take place in many different ways—through physical conquest,
through market penetration and economic domination, through colonial invasion and
settlement, and through an offer of “protection” from other imperialist powers—in return
for which the weaker state will grant certain specified “concessions” that will incrementally
strip it of its autonomy. The term gained popular currency after the middle of the
nineteenth century, when the so-called Age of Imperialism saw the extension of European
(which later included U.S. and Japanese) rule over most of Asia, almost all of Africa and
the Pacific, and other parts of the world (with the exception of Latin America, which was
nonetheless largely controlled by the imperialist states economically). Although the Age
of Imperialism saw huge colonial population movements from Europe to many lands of
recent European settlement such as the United States, Canada, Australia, South Africa,
New Zealand, Argentina, and Chile, often this colonialism was accompanied by significant
violations of human rights against the indigenous populations that had already been living
in the conquered territories. Often, this led to massive population collapse—sometimes
through the introduction (deliberate or not) of diseases for which the indigenous populations
had no immunity; sometimes through premeditated policies of genocidal killing; and
sometimes, in spite of the colonial government’s preferences, through settler depredations
(e.g., raping the women, pillaging, destroying abodes). In the quest to maximize exploitative
economic profits, imperialist governments on occasion brutalized colonial populations
(through forced starvation and/or by subjugating them to a slave-like existence) in
order to induce them to work harder and give up more and more land. Again, these violations
of human rights led to population loss that their descendants and some scholars
today refer to as being genocidal in character. Ultimately, imperialism’s expansion of
European political, cultural, economic, and military hegemony throughout the world was
bought at an enormous human cost whose effects are still being felt today.
Implementation Force (IFOR). The NATO-led multinational force that was mandated
by the UN to uphold and enforce the Dayton Peace Accords of November 1995, the purpose
of which was to bring peace to Bosnia and Herzegovina owing to the intentional and
civil wars that raged between 1992 and 1995 as a result of the dissolution of the former
Yugoslavia. IFOR, an undertaking codenamed Operation Joint Endeavor, existed under a
one-year mandate operational between December 20, 1995, and December 20, 1996.
Implementation Force for Bosnia-Herzegovina. See Implementation Force (IFOR).
Impuzamugambi (Kinyarwarda, “those with a single purpose”). A Hutu militia
movement comprising youth and run by the political party Coalition pour la défense de la
république (CDR). The youth were recruited, trained, armed, and led by Rwandese Governmental
Forces. Formed in 1992, it was most active during the Rwandan genocide
between April and July 1994.
Essentially, the Impuzamugambi constituted an armed wing of CDR, the latter of
which was a Hutu extremist party dominated by a fanatically anti-Tutsi agenda. One of
the CDR’s leaders, Hassan Ngeze (b. 1961), was also the publisher of the anti-Tutsi