Synopses & Reviews
This book examines the victimization of minority groups through history. The author argues that genocides, expulsions and forced assimilations have been the result of the efforts of rulers' wish to assert their control and legitimacy. By bringing uniformity to the populations within their boundaries, they legitimate their hold on power. This book thus shows how nationalist ideologies have influenced the form of the international state system, drawing on the experiences of Jews and Moors in Spain, Protestants in France, Armenians in Turkey, and minorities in the former Yugoslavia.
Review
"This is an extremely interesting and erudite book, which in some ways serves as the culmination of the growing body of scholarly literature in the 1990s...." Recent Books On Ethics and International Affairs"This book is a major contribution to the current literature on states and social relations." Journal of International Migration and Intergration
Synopsis
Why are forced displacement, ethnic cleansing and genocide enduring features of state systems? Heather Rae argues that state leaders construct notions of 'insiders' and 'outsiders' to legitimise their own authority over the exclusive 'insider' communities they create. Rae shows that these practices predate nationalism, examining cases including the expulsion of the Jews from fifteenth century Spain, the persecution of the Huguenots, the twentieth century Armenian genocide, and ethnic cleansing in former Yugoslavia. She then demonstrates how these atrocities prompted the development of international norms of legitimate state behaviour.
Synopsis
Heather Rae examines how state leaders use the victimisation of minorities to legitimise their authority.
About the Author
HEATHER RAE is Research Fellow and Deputy Director of the Graduate Studies in International Affairs Program, Australian National University.
Table of Contents
Introduction; 1. State formation and pathological homogenisation; 2. The 'Other' within Christian Europe: state-building in early modern Spain; 3. State-building in early modern France: Louis XIV and the Huguenots; 4. Pathological homogenisation and Turkish state-building: the Armenian genocide of 1915-1916; 5. 'Ethnic cleansing' and the break up of Yugoslavia; 6. Evolving international norms; 7. On the threshold: the Czech republic and Macedonia; Conclusion.