Genocide and Modernity a Comparative Study of Bosnia
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Genocide and Modernity A Comparative Study of Bosnia, Rwanda and the Holocaust Jasna Balorda Submitted in accordance with the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy The University of Leeds School of Sociology and Social Policy October, 2013 The candidate confirms that the work submitted is her own and that appropriate credit has been given where reference has been made to the work of others. This copy has been supplied on the understanding that it is copyright material and that no quotation from the thesis may be published without proper acknowledgement. 2013 The University of Leeds Jasna Balorda ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I would like to thank my PhD supervisors Dr Paul Bagguley and Dr Mark Davis, who supported me throughout this difficult and hugely enriching period and provided me with inspiration as well as critical insights. In addition, I thank my senior colleagues who I have had the pleasure to work with and whose immense experience has had a significant impact on me: Dr Mark Monaghan, Dr Tom Campbell and Dr Nick Ellison, as well as the marvellous support staff who tirelessly answered all of our questions and who are the real backbone of the School of Sociology and Social Policy. My deepest gratitude goes to all the participants of the Viva Africa Conference of 2013, who have accepted me as a fellow Africanist and who listened to my arguments with interest. Finally, I thank my fellow PhD students, a bunch of lively and intellectually stimulating friends without whose companionship all of this would hardly be worthwhile. ABSTRACT: The thesis “Genocide and Modernity: A Comparative Study of Bosnia, Rwanda and the Holocaust” attempts to address a gap in understanding within genocide studies. Within this field, which is dominated by case studies of the Holocaust as an embodiment of modernity, genocidal contexts such as Rwanda and Bosnia are excluded from the category of modern genocide, as a result of which the comparative method has been largely overlooked, negatively affecting the complexity of the scholarly debates. In order to resolve this, I have conducted a comparative study of three genocidal contexts in order to test each for the presence of indicators of modernity. Through the use of Critical theory and other theoretical standpoints, I have compared the genocidal contexts of Rwanda, Bosnia and the Holocaust along the lines of: organic nationalism, scientific racism, instrumental rationality, utopianism, obedience, efficiency, numbing and Gesellschaft/Gemeinschaft social ties, in order to create a complex understanding of the relationship between modernity and genocide. As a result of this analysis, my findings have proven that in relation to the execution of genocide, all three cases fit within the category of modern genocide and are not a result of ancient hatreds. However, in each of the contexts, I have also found a rejection of modernity, particularly obvious in the regressive organic-nationalist ideology of genocide. In fact, genocide itself seems to be a result of a disillusionment with the modern project as seen through the difficulties brought on by the age of industrialisation, but also as the project of Western hegemony, as the perpetrator states seem to be those that are both, at the time of genocide, excluded from the main circle of power, but also have a difficult history of foreign rule, which has made the transition towards the nation state difficult, particularly in terms of confusing identity categories. Table of Contents 1. Introduction........................................................................................................................................1 1.1. Focus of research..............................................................................................................................3 1.2. Method..............................................................................................................................................6 1.3. Organisation of the Study...............................................................................................................14 2. Literature review..............................................................................................................................16 2.1. Introduction.....................................................................................................................................16 2.2. Genocide and modernity.................................................................................................................18 2.3. Conclusion......................................................................................................................................30 3. Genocide and modernity.................................................................................................................32 3.1. Towards a definition.......................................................................................................................32 3.2. Genocide: preconditions and factors of detection...........................................................................38 3.3. Roots of modern violence...............................................................................................................44 3.3.1. Modern state and genocide..........................................................................................................48 3.3.2. Nationalism..................................................................................................................................54 3.3.3. Racism and scientific racism........................................................................................................62 3.3.4. Modern rationality and bureaucracy – the path to society of control..........................................69 3.4. Conclusion......................................................................................................................................77 4. Origins and execution of the Holocaust.........................................................................................78 4.1. The path towards independence – a historical overview................................................................79 4.1.1. The rise of Prussia and early German nationalism......................................................................79 4.1.2. First steps towards unification.....................................................................................................81 4.1.3. Unification under Bismarck.........................................................................................................83 4.2. Pretext for WW1.............................................................................................................................86 4.3. Post-war crisis.................................................................................................................................89 4.4. Descent into genocide.....................................................................................................................91 4.5. Profiles of the perpetrators..............................................................................................................98 4.6. Modernity of the Holocaust..........................................................................................................103 4.7. National Socialism: religion and ideology....................................................................................108 4.7.1. Fascism as a cult of tradition......................................................................................................108 4.7.2. Scientific racism.........................................................................................................................109 4.7.3. Building a racial utopia..............................................................................................................112 4.7.4. Anti -Semitism...........................................................................................................................117 4.8. Conclusion....................................................................................................................................122 5. Origins and execution of Bosnian genocide.................................................................................125 5.1. The path towards independence-a historical overview.................................................................126 5.1.1. First steps towards unification...................................................................................................129 5.1.2. Unification under Pašić..............................................................................................................133 5.2. Crisis under Titoism......................................................................................................................137 5.3. Descent into genocide...................................................................................................................141 5.4. Profiles of the perpetrators............................................................................................................147 5.5. Modernity of the Bosnian genocide..............................................................................................151 5.6. Serb nationalist ideology: race and religion..................................................................................156 5.6.1. From Communism to Fascism...................................................................................................156