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Purify and Destroy: The Political Uses of Massacre and Genocide

Semelin, Jacques

9781849043939 - Purify and Destroy: The Political Uses of Massacre and Genocide
Secondhand

Article description

How can we comprehend the socio-political processes that give rise to extreme violence, ethnic cleansing or genocide? A major breakthrough in comparative analysis, Purify and Destroy demonstrates that it is indeed possible to compare the Holocaust, the Rwandan genocide and ethnic cleansing in Bosnia-Hercegovina while respecting the specificities of each. Based on the essential distinction between massacre and genocide, Purify and Destroy identifies the main steps of a general process of destruction, rational and irrational, born of what Semelin terms delusional rationality, responding to fears, resentments and utopias, and re-modelling the social body by eliminating the enemy. The main stages that can lead to a genocidal process, with ordinary people becoming perpetrators, are also identified.

Specifications

Author Semelin, Jacques
ISBN/EAN 9781849043939
Can't be ordered

Article description

How can we comprehend the socio-political processes that give rise to extreme violence, ethnic cleansing or genocide? A major breakthrough in comparative analysis, Purify and Destroy demonstrates that it is indeed possible to compare the Holocaust, the Rwandan genocide and ethnic cleansing in Bosnia-Hercegovina while respecting the specificities of each. Based on the essential distinction between massacre and genocide, Purify and Destroy identifies the main steps of a general process of destruction, rational and irrational, born of what Semelin terms delusional rationality, responding to fears, resentments and utopias, and re-modelling the social body by eliminating the enemy. The main stages that can lead to a genocidal process, with ordinary people becoming perpetrators, are also identified.

Specifications

Author Semelin, Jacques
ISBN/EAN 9781849043939