Final Solutions: Mass Killing and Genocide in the 20th Century

by Benjamin A. Valentino

Overview

Benjamin A. Valentino finds that ethnic hatreds or discrimination, undemocratic systems of government, and dysfunctions in society play a much smaller role in mass killing and genocide than is commonly assumed. He shows that the impetus for mass killing usually originates from a relatively small group of powerful leaders and is often carried out without the active support of broader society. Mass killing, in his view, is a brutal political or military strategy designed to accomplish leaders' most important objectives, counter threats to their power, and solve their most difficult problems.

In order to capture the full scope of mass killing during the twentieth century, Valentino does not limit his analysis to violence directed against ethnic groups, or to the attempt to destroy victim groups as such, as do most previous studies of genocide. Rather, he defines mass killing broadly as the intentional killing of a massive number of noncombatants, using the criteria of 50,000 or more deaths within five years as a quantitative standard.

Final Solutions focuses on three types of mass killing: communist mass killings like the ones carried out in the Soviet Union, China, and Cambodia; ethnic genocides as in Armenia, Nazi Germany, and Rwanda; and "counter-guerrilla" campaigns including the brutal civil war in Guatemala and the Soviet occupation of Afghanistan. Valentino closes the book by arguing that attempts to prevent mass killing should focus on disarming and removing from power the leaders and small groups responsible for instigating and organizing the killing.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780801439650
Publisher:	Cornell University Press
Publication date:	12/24/2003
Series:	Cornell Studies in Security Affairs
Pages:	336
Product dimensions:	6.12(w) x 9.25(h) x 1.12(d)
Age Range:	18 Years

About the Author

Benjamin A. Valentino is Assistant Professor of Government at Dartmouth College.

Table of Contents

Introduction: Mass Killing in Historical and Theoretical Perspective

1. Mass Killing and Genocide

2. The Perpetrators and the Public

3. The Strategic Logic of Mass Killing

4. Communist Mass Killings: The Soviet Union, China, and Cambodia

5. Ethnic Mass Killings: Turkish Armenia. Nazi Germany, and Rwanda

6. Counterguerrilla Mass Killings: Guatemala and Afghanistan

Conclusion: Anticipating and Preventing Mass Killing

Notes
Index

What People are Saying About This

Norman M. Naimark

Final Solutions deftly focuses on the responsibility of the strategic calculations of political leaders for mass killing in the twentieth century. By examining a wide selection of cases, including a number in which large-scale massacres and genocide did not occur, Benjamin A. Valentino is able to test his ideas about the prevention of one of humanity's most dire problems.

John Mueller

I find Final Solutions to be superb—even brilliant—in its consideration of the mass killing that took place in the bloody twentieth century. Benjamin Valentino's reasoning is tight, his care with nuance and definition is exemplary, his exploration of the literature is both deep and amazingly broad, and his conclusions are stunning, unconventional, provocative, and convincingly developed.

Editorial Reviews

In this brilliant study of genocides and mass murders, Valentino analyzes conditions leading to such monstrous crimes based on more than eight cases.... Valentino's extraordinary scholarship provides a challenge to conventional wisdom about what can and should be done about genocide.

Choice

"I find Final Solutions to be superb—even brilliant—in its consideration of the mass killing that took place in the bloody twentieth century. Benjamin Valentino's reasoning is tight, his care with nuance and definition is exemplary, his exploration of the literature is both deep and amazingly broad, and his conclusions are stunning, unconventional, provocative, and convincingly developed."

John Mueller

"Final Solutions deftly focuses on the responsibility of the strategic calculations of political leaders for mass killing in the twentieth century. By examining a wide selection of cases, including a number in which large-scale massacres and genocide did not occur, Benjamin A. Valentino is able to test his ideas about the prevention of one of humanity's most dire problems."

Norman M. Naimark

The twentieth century was the bloodiest in human history. Millions died in battle, of course, but even more-estimates range from 60 million to 150 million-were innocent victims of genocide and mass slaughter. In trying to make sense of such violence, scholars have tended to look within societies: at collective psychology, ethnic and racial hatred, and the character of government. In this astute and provocative study, Valentino argues instead that leaders, not societies, are to blame. In most cases, he finds that powerful leaders use mass killing to advance their own interests or indulge their own hatreds, rather than to carry out the desires of their constituencies. This "strategic" view emerges from a review of communist mass killing in the Soviet Union, China, and Cambodia; ethnic killing in Turkish Armenia, Nazi Germany, and Rwanda; and counter-guerrilla killing in Guatemala and Afghanistan. Indifference and passivity were pervasive among the public, but it was the leaders who saw these bloody episodes as a solution to a problem. Valentino cleverly notes that if mass killing is not deeply rooted in society but a tactic of state power, the rest of the world has fewer excuses for inaction.

Foreign Affairs

Valentino's analysis is flawless. His empirically rooted case studies are appropriate and interpretive strategies rigorous.

Studies in Ethnicity and Nationalism

In this brilliant study of genocides and mass murders, Valentino analyzes conditions leading to such monstrous crimes based on more than eight cases.... Valentino's extraordinary scholarship provides a challenge to conventional wisdom about what can and should be done about genocide.

-- "Choice"

In trying to make sense of such violence, scholars have tended to look within societies: at collective psychology, ethnic and racial hatred, and the character of government. In this astute and provocative study, Valentino argues instead that leaders, not societies, are to blame. In most cases, he finds that powerful leaders use mass killing to advance their own interests or indulge their own hatreds, rather than to carry out the desires of their constituencies.... Valentino cleverly notes that if mass killing is not deeply rooted in society but a tactic of state power, the rest of the world has fewer excuses for inaction.

-- "Foreign Affairs"

Valentino's analysis is flawless. His empirically rooted case studies are appropriate and interpretive strategies rigorous.

-- "Studies in Ethnicity and Nationalism"

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