Summary and conclusions 20th century democide death by government. Rummel to understand and place in historical perspective the entire subject of genocide and mass murder, or what he calls democide. Pdf the thirty year genocide download full pdf book. Rummel was professor emeritus of political science at the university of hawaii.
Rummel s five volume work understanding conflict and war is an ambitious, comprehensive theoretical approach to international as well as domestic conflict. Rummel is a professor emeritus of political science. He sparred with the cato institutes ted galen carpenter pdf, among others, over that assertion. An assessment of his many contributions nils petter. J rummel has gone to great lengths in order to provide case studies of some of histories m. In addition, he has been nominated for the nobel peace prize and been the recipient of the lifetime achievement award from the conflict. It is the fifth in a series of volumes in which he offers a detailed. He presents the primary results, in tables and figures, as well as a historical sketch of the major cases of democide, those in which one million or more people. Rummel that the other society is like ones own, favoring negotiation and compromise, reduces the possibility of violence between them. Moreover, war between freelibertarianstates will not occur, and other violence. Yet another democratic peace theorist, rummel extends the argument to assert that democracies not only do not fight one another but are much less prone to genocide and domestic political violence, and are in fact much less likely to fight wars overall. He presents the primary results, in tables and figures, as well as a historical sketch of the major cases of democide, those in which one million or more people were killed by a regime. Ntnu, former editor 19832010 of journal of peace research.
Except for soviet citizens, no people in this century have endured so much mass killing as have the chinese. No, the core thesis, as indicated by the title of the book, is that power. Rummel, a professor emeritus of political science at the university of hawaii, was a finalist for the. Rummel was a prolific writer and an important teacher and mentor to a number of people. A child of the great depression and world war ii, he attended local public schools. Death by government is a depressing, unnerving book. An assessment of his many contributions, springerbriefs on pioneers in science and practice 37, doi 10. Rummels five volume work understanding conflict and war is an.
The university of hawaii maintains his old website, about death by government. He spent his career studying data on collective violence and war with a view toward helping their resolution or elimination. It is defined as largescale murder by a government, similar to a genocide or ethnic cleansing. Rummel its horrifying that its both possible and necessary to parse. Regardless, death by government, is an essential piece of the puzzle to understand the primary fact of the twentieth century. In death by government, rummel does not aim to describe democide itself. For this very reason, it should be read in history classes not just across america, but around the world. According to him, this definition covers a wide range of deaths, including forced labor and concentration camp. Rummel does not include combat deaths and executions in his definition of democide. Rummel in my understanding conflict and war i concluded that the more freedom a state accords its citizens, the less likely it is to be involved in foreign violence. Rummel so, for the readers of my novels, here is a factual supplement that does all that.
Rummel went beyond the morbid busines of counting the dead, and maintained, it is true that democratic freedom is an engine of national and individual wealth and prosperity. According to rummel, the one constant factor in all the chinese mass murder, as it was in the soviet union and nazi germany, is arbitrary power. Rudolph rummel was born in 1932 in cleveland, ohio to a family of german descent. How do we explain such killings, crossing ideological bounds and political conditions. Genocide, for example, does not take into account government murder for political or ideological reasons. The truth of the latter assertion will be questioned by many including doyle, though rummel adduces considerable statistical. He published his major results in understanding conflict and war, vols. He is the author of over one hundred scholarly articles and two dozen books, including power kills, chinas bloody century, and the miracle that is freedom. Rummel since at least 1994 who defined it as the intentional killing of an unarmed or disarmed person by government agents acting in their authoritative capacity and pursuant to government policy or high command. Death by government genocide and mass murder since 1900.
Rummel s fourth book in a series devoted to genocide and government mass murder, or what he calls democide. Rummel s understanding conflict and war ucw predicted that the work would not have the immediate impact that one might otherwise expect from a work of such scope written by one of the more famous names in the field ray, 1982. Rummel s core thesis is that democracies do not make war on each other p. From 1900 to 1987, state, quasistate, and stateless groups have killed in democide genocide, massacres, extrajudicial executions, and the like nearly 170,000,000 people. Rummel, rj 1985 a test of libertarian propositions on violence within and between nations against published research results. This volume is part of a comprehensive effort by professor rummel to understand and place in historical perspective the entire subject of genocide and mass murderwhat is herein called democide. After eightyears and almost daily reading and recording of men, women, and children by the tens of millions being tortured or beaten to death, hung, shot, and buried alive, burned or starved to death, stabbed or chopped.
It provides a substantial theoretical as well as epistemological basis for the democratic peace proposition, which has received a lot of attention in recent years. Death by government download ebook pdf, epub, tuebl, mobi. Rummel in order to create a broader concept than the legal definition of genocide. The editor acknowledges technical assistance from marie iselin bjerkelund. He came from a broken home, yet became a devoted husband and father. He was a man of many talents, and to some of his readers he may also have seemed to present. His theory, which focuses our attention on the role of the state, is a giant step forward from previous theories that focused on culturalethnic differences, outgroup conflict, misperception, frustrationaggression, relative deprivation, ideological imperatives. Libertarianism, violence within states, and the polarity. Rummel has focused his research on the causes and conditions of collective violence and war with a view toward helping their resolution or elimination. Through his undergraduate term papers, ma thesis, ph. Rummel s numbers, after a while, become too numbing. Rudolph joseph rummel october 21, 1932 march 2, 2014 was professor emeritus of political science at the university of hawaii. The problem of power, as rummel terms it, remains with us todayjust ask residents of angola, bosnia, chechnya, georgia, and rwanda, among many, many other lands.
Nazi genocide and mass murder by r j rummel editor online at alibris. World war ii casualties often include civilian deaths which rummel would classify as democide. Rummel curriculum vita freedom, democide, war national advisory council. Read download death by government pdf pdf download. Case studies and quantitative analysis show that ethnic, racial, and religious diversity, economic development, levels of education, and cultural differences do not account for this killing. This volume, newly published in paperback, is part of a comprehensive effort by r. He presents the primary results, in tables and figures, as well as a historical. Rummel but was well known in the profession as rudy. Rummel went beyond the morbid busines of counting the dead, and maintained, it is true that democratic freedom is an engine. They have been murdered by rebels conniving with their own rulers, and then, after the defeat in war of the imperial dynasty, by soldiers. From 1900 to 1987, state, quasistate, and stateless groups have killed in democide genocide, massacres, extrajudicial executions, and the like nearly. He presents the primary results, in tables and figures, as well as a historical sketch of the major cases of democide, those in which one million or.