Final Solutions by Benjamin A Valentino

Final Solutions by Benjamin A Valentino

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...

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 *

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

SKU	Unavailable
ISBN 13	9780801472732
ISBN 10	0801472733
Title	Final Solutions
Author	Benjamin A Valentino
Series	Cornell Studies In Security Affairs
Condition	Unavailable
Binding Type	Paperback
Publisher	Cornell University Press
Year published	2005-12-02
Number of pages	336
Prizes	Winner of Winner of the 2004 Edgar S. Furniss Book Award (Me.
Cover note	Book picture is for illustrative purposes only, actual binding, cover or edition may vary.