Understanding Ethnic Violence: Fear, Hatred, and Resentment in Twentieth-Century Eastern Europe

by Roger D. Petersen

Overview

This book seeks to identify the motivations of individual perpetrators of ethnic violence. The work develops four models gleaned from existing social science literatures: Fear, Hatred, Resentment, and Rage. The empirical chapters apply the models to important events involving ethnic conflict in Eastern Europe, from the 1905 Russian Revolution to the 1990's collapse of Yugoslavia. Each historical chapter generates questions about the timing and target of ethnic violence. The four models are then applied to determine which is most effective in explaining the observed patterns of ethnic conflict.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780521809863
Publisher:	Cambridge University Press
Publication date:	09/02/2002
Series:	Cambridge Studies in Comparative Politics
Pages:	314
Product dimensions:	6.22(w) x 9.29(h) x 1.02(d)

Table of Contents

1. Introduction; Part I. Theory: 2. An emotion-based theory of ethnic conflict; 3. Resentment; 4. Fear, hatred, and rage; Part II. Comparisons (The Baltic States in the Twentieth Century): 5. Baltic 1905; 6. In the wake of Barbarossa; 7. The reconstruction of independent states; 8. Across the century; 9. Czechoslovakia 1848–1998; 10. Yugoslavia.

Editorial Reviews

"...an important and original contribution that deserves attention from anyone interested in ethnic conflict, eastern European politics and history, or indeed mass political behavior." Slavic Review

"[A]n orignal look at the emotional motivations behind ethnic violence.... Recommended." Choice

"Thought-provoking..." Foreign Affairs

From the Publisher

Petersen starts from the sensible premise that emotion plays an important role in ethnic violence, and he then sets out to track this connection across three broad eastern European cases: the Baltic states (1905 to the present), Czechoslovakia (1848-1998), and contemporary Yugoslavia. The four categories into which he divides emotions — fear, hatred, rage, and resentment — are linked to broader impulses, such as fear to safety, rage to "ancient hatreds," and so on. Although each works its effect at different times in different places, neither fear nor rage predominates; in contrast, resentment over perceived status inequities does. The gates open when either the disruptions of war or rapid modernization accentuate status concerns and decimate normal social constraints. This thought-provoking book warns that mistaking fear as the basis of ethnic violence — and assuming that military quick fixes are the right answer when the real problem lies in the far more intractable issue of resentment — will lead us astray.

Foreign Affairs