Synopses & Reviews
This groundbreaking examination of death squads, which exist worldwide, provides a historical perspective of how governments use death squads and how the participation of non-state forces is an extreme instance of the "subcontracting" of tasks characteristic of modern states. Death squads are not simply a product of the Cold War, or of "weak" third-world nations, but are linked to a crisis of the modern state. This collection brings experts from around the world to look at death squads in places such as El Salvador, Weimar Germany, Bosnia, India, Indonesia, Brazil and South Africa.
Synopsis
Death squads have become an increasingly common feature of the modern world. In nearly all instances, their establishment is tolerated, encouraged, or undertaken by the state itself, which thereby risks its monoply on the use of force, one of the fundamental characteristics of modern states. Why do such a variety of regimes, under very different circumstances, condone such activity?
Death Squads in Global Perspective hopes to answer that question and explain not only their development, but also why they can be expected to proliferate in the early 21st century.
Synopsis
"Death Squads in Global Perspective" is an anthology of case studies and a theoretical examination of historical contemporary instances of death squads around the world, addressing primarily the question of the relationship of the state to death squads.
Description
Includes bibliographical references (p. [325]-348) and index.
About the Author
Bruce B. Campbell is Assistant Professor of Modern Languages and Literature at the College of William and Mary.
Arthur D. Brenner is Associate Professor of History at Siena College
Table of Contents
Death Squads: Definition, Problems, and Historical Context--Bruce B. Campbell * I. Historical Cases * "To Induce a Sense of Terror": Caudillo Politics and Political Violence in Northern Nicaragua, 1926-1934 and 1981-1995--Michael J. Schroeder *
Feme Murder: Paramilitary "Self Justice" in Weimar Germany--Arthur D. Brenner * II. Democratic Regime Transitions * Window on the Past: A Declassified History of Death Squads in El Salvador--Cynthia J. Arnson * Stage of Siege: Poitical Violence and Vigilante Mobilization in the Phillipines--Eva-Lotta Hedman * III. Social Control * State Terrorism and Death Squads in Uganda (1971-79)--Edward Kannyo * From Petrus to Ninja: Death Squads in Indonesia--Robert Cribb * Modernity and Devolution: The Making of Police Death Squads in Modern Brazil--Martha K. Huggins * IV. National, Ethnic, and Religious Identity Conflict * The Rise and Fall of Apartheid's Death Squads, 1963-1993--Keith Gottschalk * India's Secret Armies--Patricia Gossman * Territoriality and Plausible Deniability: Serbian Paramilitaries in the Bosnian War--James Ron * Appendix: Other Death Squad Cases Death Squads: Definition, Problems, and Historical Context--Bruce B. Campbell * I. Historical Cases * "To Induce a Sense of Terror": Caudillo Politics and Political Violence in Northern Nicaragua, 1926-1934 and 1981-1995--Michael J. Schroeder * Feme Murder: Paramilitary "Self Justice" in Weimar Germany--Arthur D. Brenner * II. Democratic Regime Transitions * Window on the Past: A Declassified History of Death Squads in El Salvador--Cynthia J. Arnson * Stage of Siege: Poitical Violence and Vigilante Mobilization in the Phillipines--Eva-Lotta Hedman * III. Social Control * State Terrorism and Death Squads in Uganda (1971-79)--Edward Kannyo * From Petrus to Ninja: Death Squads in Indonesia--Robert Cribb * Modernity and Devolution: The Making of Police Death Squads in Modern Brazil--Martha K. Huggins * IV. National, Ethnic, and Religious Identity Conflict * The Rise and Fall of Apartheid's Death Squads, 1963-1993--Keith Gottschalk * India's Secret Armies--Patricia Gossman * Territoriality and Plausible Deniability: Serbian Paramilitaries in the Bosnian War--James Ron * Appendix: Other Death Squad Cases