The Banality of Ethnic War
The Banality of Ethnic War
复制标题
种族战争的平庸性
作者：
John Mueller
在这篇文章中，我评估了20世纪90年代在前南斯拉夫和卢旺达发生的暴力事件，并认为“种族战争”的整个概念可能是严重误导的。特别是，只要它被认为意味着所有人对所有人和邻居对邻居的战争，一个种族群体中的几乎每个人都成为另一个群体中每个人的热情，奉献和杀人的敌人，种族战争基本上不存在。相反，我认为种族战争更接近于非种族战争，因为它是由小团体的战斗人员发动的，这些团体声称以某个更大实体的名义进行攻击和杀戮。事实上，“种族战争”往往实质上是一种情况，在这种情况下，一群本质上温和的普通人可以不情愿地、在相当大的困惑中受到一小撮武装暴徒的恶毒和任意控制。我考虑了克罗地亚和波斯尼亚的暴力冲突。这些问题的产生，与其说是由于古老仇恨的剧烈涌动，或者是由于蛊惑人心的政客和媒体煽动的狂热，不如说是由于政治领导人招募的一小群（有时是非常小的一小群）机会主义掠夺者的服务，他们在政治领导人的总体指导下运作。许多参与者来自街头帮派或足球流氓团伙。其他人是专门从监狱释放的罪犯。他们的参与是必要的，因为南斯拉夫军队，尽管多年来的所谓inouential民族主义宣传和世纪
In this article I assess the violence that took place in the former Yugoslavia and in Rwanda in the 1990s and argue that the whole concept of “ethnic warfare” may be severely misguided. Speciacally, insofar as it is taken to imply a war of all against all and neighbor against neighbor—a condition in which pretty much everyone in one ethnic group becomes the ardent, dedicated, and murderous enemy of everyone in another group—ethnic war essentially does not exist. I argue instead that ethnic warfare more closely resembles nonethnic warfare, because it is waged by small groups of combatants, groups that purport to aght and kill in the name of some larger entity. Often, in fact, “ethnic war” is substantially a condition in which a mass of essentially mild, ordinary people can unwillingly and in considerable bewilderment come under the vicious and arbitrary control of small groups of armed thugs. I consider arst the violent conoicts in Croatia and Bosnia. These were spawned not so much by the convulsive surging of ancient hatreds or by frenzies whipped up by demagogic politicians and the media as by the ministrations of small—sometimes very small—bands of opportunistic marauders recruited by political leaders and operating under their general guidance. Many of these participants were drawn from street gangs or from bands of soccer hooligans. Others were criminals speciacally released from prison for the purpose. Their participation was required because the Yugoslav army, despite years of supposedly inouential nationalist propaganda and centuries