Genocide, Ethnonationalism, and the United Nations examines a series of related crises in human civilization growing out of conflicts between powerful states or empires and indigenous or stateless peoples. This is the first book to attempt to explore the causes of genocide and other mass killing by a detailed exploration of UN archives covering the period spanning from 1945 through 2011. Hannibal Travis argues that large states and empires disproportionately committed or facilitated genocide and other mass killings between 1945 and 2011. His research incorporates data concerning factors linked to the scale of mass killing, and recent findings in human rights, political science, and legal theory. Turning to potential solutions, he argues that the concept of genocide imagines a future system of global governance under which the nation-state itself is made subject to law. The United Nations, however, has deflected the possibility of such a cosmopolitical law. It selectively condemns genocide and has established an institutional structure that denies most peoples subjected to genocide of a realistic possibility of global justice, lacks a robust international criminal tribunal or UN army, and even encourages "security" cooperation among states that have proven to be destructive of peoples in the past. Questions raised include: What have been the causes of mass killing during the period since the United Nations Charter entered into force in 1945? How does mass killing spread across international borders, and what is the role of resource wealth, the arms trade, and external interference in this process? Have the United Nations or the International Criminal Court faced up to the problem of genocide and other forms of mass killing, as is their mandate?

Contents.

Publisher Description

The book comprises essays, each highlighting a particular word or term germane to the study of race and ethnic studies.

During the twentieth century, the Balkan Peninsula was affected by three major waves of genocides and ethnic cleansings, some of which are still being denied today. In Balkan Genocides Paul Mojzes provides a balanced and detailed account of these events, placing them in their proper historical context and debunking the common misrepresentations and misunderstandings of the genocides themselves. A native of Yugoslavia, Mojzes offers new insights into the Balkan genocides, including a look at the unique role of ethnoreligiosity in these horrific events and a characterization of the first and second Balkan wars as mutual genocides. Mojzes also looks to the region's future, discussing the ongoing trials at the International Criminal Tribunal in Yugoslavia and the prospects for dealing with the lingering issues between Balkan nations and different religions. Balkan Genocides attempts to end the vicious cycle of revenge which has fueled such horrors in the past century by analyzing the terrible events and how they came to pass.

′With its list of distinguished contributors and its wide range of topics, the handbook is surely destined to become an invaluable resource for all serious students of nationalism′ - Michael Billig, Professor of Social Sciences at Loughborough University and author of ′Banal Nationalism′ (SAGE 1995) ′The persistence - some would say: revival - of nationalism across the recent history of modernity, in particular the past two decades, has taken many scholars in the social sciences by surprise. In response, interest in the analysis of nationalism has increased and given rise to a great variety of new angles under which to study the phenomenon. What was missing in the cacophony of voices addressing nationalism was a volume that brought them together and confronted them with each other. This handbook does just that. It deserves particular praise for the wide range of approaches and topic included and for the systematic attempt at studying nationalism as a phenomenon of our time, not a remnant from the past′ - Peter Wagner, Professor of Social and Political Theory, European University Institute; and Professor of Sociology, University of Warwick ′For students concerned with the contemporary study of nationalism this will be an invaluable publication. The three-fold division into approaches, themes and cases is a very solid and sensible one. The editors have commissioned essays from leading scholars in the field [and]this handbook provides the best single-volume overview of contemporary nationalism′ - John Breuilly, Professor of Nationalism and Ethnicity, London School of Economics Nationalism has long excited debate in political, social and cultural theory and remains a key field of enquiry among historians, anthropologists, sociologists as well as political scientists. It is also one of the critical media issues of our time. There are, however, surprisingly few volumes that bring together the best of this intellectual diversity into one collection. This Handbook gives readers a critical survey of the latest theories and debates and provides a glimpse of the issues that will shape their future. Its three sections guide the reader through the theoretical approaches to this field of study, its major themes - from modernity to memory, migration and genocide - and the diversity of nationalisms found around the globe. The overall aim of this Handbook is to relate theories and debates within and across a range of disciplines, illuminate themes and issues of central importance in both historical and contemporary contexts, and show how nationalism has impacted upon and interacted with other political and social forms and forces. This book provides a much-needed resource for scholars in international relations, political science, social theory and sociology.

In this timely book Milton J. Esman surveys a recurrent and seemingly intractable factor in the politics of nations: ethnicity. As the author notes, virtually no contemporary nation-state is ethnically homogeneous. Most address the political effects of domestic ethnic difference, and many fail in the attempt—with devastatingly violent results.Esman focuses on ethnic mobilization and the management of conflict, on the ways ethnic groups prepare for political combat, and on measures that can moderate or control ethnic disputes, whether peaceful or violent.Opening with a broad synopsis of current understandings of ethnicity and its varying political salience, he illustrates his theories by analyzing experiences in South Africa, Israel-Palestine, Canada-Quebec, and Malaysia. He also outlines the political issues and dilemmas, transnational as well as domestic, caused by the vast labor migrations of Mexicans to the United States, North Africans to France, Turks to Germany, and Koreans to Japan.Can economic growth and prosperity ease ethnic conflicts? Esman addresses this question and draws conclusions based on the empirical chapters. In his view, ethnic pluralism and ethnic politics are not collective psychoses or aberrations, to be deplored and exorcised, but rather pervasive realities that observers can confront and politicians can manage.