The Deadly Ethnic RiotDonald L. Horowitz's comprehensive consideration of the structure and dynamics of ethnic violence is the first full-scale, comparative study of what the author terms the deadly ethnic riot--an intense, sudden, lethal attack by civilian members of one ethnic group on civilian members of another ethnic group. Serious, frequent, and destabilizing, these events result in large numbers of casualties. Horowitz examines approximately 150 such riots in about fifty countries, mainly in Asia, Africa, and the former Soviet Union, as well as fifty control cases. With its deep and thorough scholarship, incisive analysis, and profound insights, The Deadly Ethnic Riot will become the definitive work on its subject. Furious and sadistic, the riot is nevertheless directed against a precisely specified class of targets and conducted with considerable circumspection. Horowitz scrutinizes target choices, participants and organization, the timing and supporting conditions for the violence, the nature of the events that precede the riot, the prevalence of atrocities during the violence, the location and diffusion of riots, and the aims and effects of riot behavior. He finds that the deadly ethnic riot is a highly patterned but emotional event that tends to occur during times of political uncertainty. He also discusses the crucial role of rumor in triggering riots, the surprisingly limited role of deliberate organization, and the striking lack of remorse exhibited by participants. Horowitz writes clearly and eloquently without compromising the complexity of his subject. With impressive analytical skill, he takes up the important challenge of explaining phenomena that are at once passionate and calculative. |
Contents
Ethnic Boundaries Riot Boundaries | 43 |
The Riot Episode | 71 |
Selective Targeting | 124 |
Displaced Aggression | 135 |
Moments | 148 |
Organizers and Participants | 224 |
The Occasions for Violence | 268 |
The Character of Precipitating Events | 317 |
Biased or Ineffective Instruments of Public Order | 352 |
Location Diffusion and Recurrence | 374 |
Aims Effects and Functions | 423 |
Violence and Quiescence | 467 |
The Calculus of Passion | 522 |
Strategic and Rationalist Approaches to Ethnic | 545 |
Hypervigilance | 555 |
567 | |
Other editions - View all
Common terms and phrases
action Africa aggression aggressors amok anger antipathy areas Assam Assamese atrocities attacks Bakongo behavior Bengalis Bhiwandi Burma Chapter Chinese cities Collective Violence Colombo Commission of Inquiry Communal Riots Communal Violence crowd cultural deadly ethnic riot deadly riots Delhi divided societies Eastern Economic Review election electoral episodes Ethnic Conflict ethnic groups ethnic violence explain fear fighting Genocide Government Hausa Hindu Hindu-Muslim Riots Horowitz hostility Ibid identity India Indonesia inhibitions interethnic intergroup Ivory Coast Journal July Kano Karachi killing Kuala Lumpur Kyrghyz leaders lence locations lock-in London majority Malay Malaysia Mbochi minority Mohajirs Muslims National Nigeria northern occurred organization Pakistan participants party pattern Penang police Political Weekly precipitating events produced protest Punjab Rangoon relations Report response rioters Riots in India role rumors September Sikhs Sindhis Singapore Sinhalese Social Psychology spread Sri Lanka Studies Tamil target choice target group theory tion urban victims warfare York Yoruba Zanzibar