In September 1999, Richard Holbrooke attributed Bosnia's postwar problems to the existence of evil influences: “The forces of darkness – separatists, racists, war criminals, and crooks – are still there, continuing their efforts to keep the people in the dark ages.” Holbrooke implies that the modern age will eliminate, or should eliminate, these retrograde causes of ethnic conflict. This book approaches the persistence of ethnic conflict from a different set of assumptions. It treats the motivation to participate in or support ethnic violence and discrimination as inherent in human nature. Until we realize that the capacity to commit ethnic violence lies within all of us we are in danger of constantly being surprised at the emergence of forces from the “the dark ages.” Furthermore, we will remain unable to develop the most effective constraints and preventions.

This work will develop four stories, or models, each describing a process motivating individuals to commit violent or punitive actions against ethnic others. Each of these stories will be based on a single emotion that underlies a theory or set of theories commonly found in the social science literature on ethnic conflict. The Fear story is distilled from the security dilemma theories of international relations; Hatred builds on the “ancient hatreds” view often found in journalistic accounts; Resentment develops concepts from social psychology that concentrate on consciousness of group status; Rage is extracted primarily from psychological theories linking frustration and aggression.