Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Preface
- 1 The Argument
- 2 Ethnic Cleansing in Former Times
- 3 Two Versions of “We, the People”
- 4 Genocidal Democracies in the New World
- 5 Armenia, I: Into the Danger Zone
- 6 Armenia, II: Genocide
- 7 Nazis, I: Radicalization
- 8 Nazis, II: Fifteen Hundred Perpetrators
- 9 Nazis, III: Genocidal Careers
- 10 Germany's Allies and Auxiliaries
- 11 Communist Cleansing: Stalin, Mao, Pol Pot
- 12 Yugoslavia, I: Into the Danger Zone
- 13 Yugoslavia, II: Murderous Cleansing
- 14 Rwanda, I: Into the Danger Zone
- 15 Rwanda, II: Genocide
- 16 Counterfactual Cases: India and Indonesia
- 17 Combating Ethnic Cleansing in the World Today
- Works Cited
- Index
16 - Counterfactual Cases: India and Indonesia
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 05 June 2012
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Preface
- 1 The Argument
- 2 Ethnic Cleansing in Former Times
- 3 Two Versions of “We, the People”
- 4 Genocidal Democracies in the New World
- 5 Armenia, I: Into the Danger Zone
- 6 Armenia, II: Genocide
- 7 Nazis, I: Radicalization
- 8 Nazis, II: Fifteen Hundred Perpetrators
- 9 Nazis, III: Genocidal Careers
- 10 Germany's Allies and Auxiliaries
- 11 Communist Cleansing: Stalin, Mao, Pol Pot
- 12 Yugoslavia, I: Into the Danger Zone
- 13 Yugoslavia, II: Murderous Cleansing
- 14 Rwanda, I: Into the Danger Zone
- 15 Rwanda, II: Genocide
- 16 Counterfactual Cases: India and Indonesia
- 17 Combating Ethnic Cleansing in the World Today
- Works Cited
- Index
Summary
So far I have studied only cases in which ethnic conflict did murderously escalate. Such sampling on the dependent variable might give a biased as well as an overly pessimistic impression, for many serious ethnic tensions exist but seem to get successfully defused. There are bursts of ethnic violence in which trouble explodes but then seems to die away and communities are spared mass murder. We must also study such cases to see what the differences are between them and cases of mass murder. The large countries of India and Indonesia can serve as “laboratories.” Both contain ethnic and religious tensions that explode at widely varying levels of severity. Both countries see recurrent violence, but most of it takes the less serious form of a riot cycle. Yet in a few instances there is escalation into mass murder. Can we explain these varied tensions and outcomes in terms of my ethnic theses? After examining the two countries, I will contrast them to my earlier worst-outcome cases to locate more precisely how trouble either escalates or gets defused. Figure 16.1 will sum up my conclusions, in effect rounding out my general explanation of ethnic cleansing.
INDIA SINCE INDEPENDENCE
India's population of 1 billion people is extremely multiethnic. No one knows how many ethnic groups there are, but they are so numerous that no one could rule the country merely by mobilizing ethnic loyalties. Localities can be split by communal ethnic disputes, but not the nation as a whole.
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- The Dark Side of DemocracyExplaining Ethnic Cleansing, pp. 474 - 501Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2004