DOWNLOAD Genocide in Our Time - NewFoundations

CHAPTER 7GENOCIDE AND MODERN WARby Eric MarkusenINTRODUCTIONIt is the governments of the world that eithercarry out or condone genocide, modern war, andother forms of mass killing. Although genocideand warfare are often regarded as distinctlydifferent phenomena, there are in fact a numberof important connections and commonalitiesbetween them, among which are severalpsychosocial facilitating factors. Markusen givesspecial attention to three of these:dehumanization of the victims, the systematic useof euphemistic language in describing theviolence that is inflicted on victims, andbureaucratic organization of the overall effort.These three factors are of approximately equalimportance in the waging of both wars andgenocides. "The scale of man-made death is thecentral moral as well as material fact of ourtime. " In the light of this fact, it is particularlyunfortunate that the energy and resourcesdevoted to understanding and preventing masskilling have been negligible. .Four generalizations emerge from a review of thescholarly literature on genocide, warfare, and otherforms of mass killing that governments have conductedor condoned: 1) the twentieth century is the mostviolent and murderous in history; 2) genocide andwarfare are by no means the only significant forms ofgovernmental mass killing; 3) although genocide andwarfare are often regarded as distinctly differentphenomena, there are in fact a number of importantconnections and commonalities between them; 4) thescholarly attention devoted to these issues is negligiblerelative to their significance.TIIE VIOLENCE OF TIIE TWENTIETII CENTURYThe discussion of genocide and modern war must,at the outset, be placed in the overall context ofcollective violence and mass killing. As William Jamesobserved in his 1910 essay, "The Moral Equivalent ofWar, " "History is a bath of blood. "' Likewise, in hispioneering study, Taking Lives: Genocide and StatePower, sociologist Irving Louis Horowitz asserts:"Mass murder and warfare among peoples is anever-present truth of"'humankind. And in an articleon human cruelty throughout history, another sociologist,Randall Collins, concludes that "The prevailingreality of world history is violence. "'According to a number of scholars, the violenceof past centuries pales before the violence and murder-Genocide and Modern War 117