Reference no: EM132187294

Questions on the readings

Chapter 1

Why cases of ethnic cleansing and genocide took place primarily in the modern period and are virtually absent before?

What aspects of democracy can contribute to murderous cleansing, according to Mann? Why were virtually all democracies built upon ethnic cleansing?

Mann argues that stable authoritarian regimes are less likely to engage in ethnic cleansings than democratizing regimes. What observations does he make to support this argument?

How does ethnicity relate to social class? Which of these two should prevail for ethnic cleansing to become possible?

What internal and international factors trigger the descent into ethnic cleansing and genocide in a particular country?

What are the differences between ethnocide, genocide, politicide and classicide, according to Mann?

Who are the usual perpetrators of ethnic cleansings and genocides: the masses or the elites?

What are the usual motives of the perpetrators? Are these motives rational, and if yes in a what sense?

Chapter 2

Mann argues that people in pre-modern times were more likely to be killed for where they were rather than for what they were. How do you understand this argument?

What are the differences between pre-modern and modern society from the point of view of how they are organized?

Did ethnicity exist in pre-modern societies?

How did pre-modern ideology, economy, military and political organization affect ethnicity? Do they strengthen or weaken ethnic ties?

Did the major "salvation religions" make mass killings more or less rare and why?

How does Mann describe the expulsion of Jews from Spain in the late 15th century? What it an ethnic cleansing, genocide or something else?

What factors, according to him, explain this policy?

How does the Spanish policy towards the Jews compare to the English policy towards the Irish during the English Civil Wars of the seventeenth century?