| Co-Investigator(Kenkyū-buntansha) |
ISHIDA Yuji The University of Tokyo, Graduate School of Arts and Sciences, Professor, 大学院・総合文化研究科, 教授 (30212898)
ICHINOKAWA Yasutaka The University of Tokyo, Graduate School of Arts and Sciences, Associate Professor, 大学院・総合文化研究科, 准教授 (30277727)
YAMAGISHI Tomoko Meiji University, School of Science and Economics, Associate Professor, 政治経済学部, 准教授 (50272480)
SATSUMA Hideto Meiji University, School of Business Administration, Professor, 政営学部, 教授 (70211274)
MARUKAWA Satoshi Meiji University, School of Science and Economics, Associate Professor, 政治経済学部, 准教授 (50337903)
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| Research Abstract |
This study focused on a hypothesis that ethnic cleansing was a modern phenomenon based on a principle that state should be built on an ethnic nation. In three years of research, we have compared cases, both modern and pre-modern, of Europe, Eurasia, Middle East, Africa, East Asia. As a result, we found the trend that ethnic cleansing began in early modern Europe, then it spread over the Eastern Europe, the Balkans, Middle East, Asia, Africa, and former Soviet Union. In this way, we concluded we had proved the validity of our hypothesis. In the course of our study, we have found another important fact concerning the mechanism of ethnic cleansing. This is a result of our study of the Bosnian Civil War. The war in Bosnia was a by-product of disintegration of Yugoslavia. Yugoslavia was broke up after suffering pressure of detente and international financial crisis in the 1980s, and the collapse of the Eastern Block in 1989. The fatal blow came from the multi-party elections in 1990. After the elections, Yugoslavia lost control of constitutional order, then control over military, as the separatist republics launched to build their own armies by illegal means. Most of population began to fear their security of life and property, and gradually lost their old identities that had been the base of multi-ethnic society. Nationalist politicians exploited wide spread fear by exaggerating the memory of genocide of WWII. They especially made use of paramilitary groups in this process. Although paramilitaries were composed of criminal elements, they became an acceptable form manipulating the tradition of national liberation fighters. As a conclusion, control over violence, especially removal of paramilitaries in the earlier stage of conflict is the key to prevent ethnic cleansing from becoming dominant form.
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