Death by GovernmentThis is R. J. Rummel's fourth book in a series devoted to genocide and government mass murder, or what he calls democide. He presents the primary results, in tables and figures, as well as a historical sketch of the major cases of democide, those in which one million or more people were killed by a regime. In Death by Government, Rummel does not aim to describe democide itself, but to determine its nature and scope in order to test the theory that democracies are inherently nonviolent. Rummel discusses genocide in China, Nazi Germany, Japan, Cambodia, Turkey, Yugoslavia, Poland, the Soviet Union, and Pakistan. He also writes about areas of suspected genocide: North Korea, Mexico, and feudal Russia. His results clearly and decisively show that democracies commit less democide than other regimes. The underlying principle is that the less freedom people have, the greater the violence; the more freedom, the less the violence. Thus, as Rummel says, “The problem is power. The solution is democracy. The course of action is to foster freedom.” Death by Government is a compelling look at the horrors that occur in modern societies. It depicts how democide has been very much a part of human history. Among other examples, the book includes the massacre of Europeans during the Thirty Years' War, the relatively unknown genocide of the French Revolution, and the slaughtering of American Indians by colonists in the New World. This riveting account is an essential tool for historians, political scientists, and scholars interested in the study of genocide. |
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LibraryThing Review
User Review - stormrussell - LibraryThingSometimes it takes the insight of others to help me make better sense of what I already knew. I used to think war was the greatest cause of death and tragedy, but after reading R.J. Rummel's "Death by ... Read full review
LibraryThing Review
User Review - ZenPatrice - LibraryThingCovers state-sponsored genocides, but starts off saying that a democracy can't do that. It doesn't take into account the harm that a democracy can do in the third-world. Read full review
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Common terms and phrases
according American Annual areas Armenians army attack battle bombing Cambodia camps carried century China Chinese civil civilians command communism communist consider course dead death democide died disease East enemy estimates ethnic example executed expulsions famine figures final forced foreign former genocide Germans give given Greeks guerrillas human hundreds Ibid Japanese Jews Khmer Rouge killed labor land least lives March Marxism mass massacres military million months murdered nationalists Nazi nearly North occupied officials overall Pakistan particularly party peasants percent perhaps period political population possibly Press prisoners probably province rebellion refugees regime region reported result rule shot slaughtered social soldiers sometimes South Soviet Statistics of Democide terror thousands toll took torture towns tried troops Union United victims Viet Vietnam Vietnamese village whole women World York Young Turks
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Bibliographic information
| Title | Death by Government |
| Author | R. J. Rummel |
| Edition | revised |
| Publisher | Transaction Publishers, 2011 |
| ISBN | 1412821290, 9781412821292 |
| Length | 496 pages |
| Subjects | › Political Science / Genocide & War Crimes Political Science / Human Rights Religion / Comparative Religion |
| Export Citation | BiBTeX EndNote RefMan |