Genocide, War Crimes and the West: History and Complicity [Englisch] [Taschenbuch]

"This exceptionally well selected, brilliantly edited collection of writings provides the most comprehensive treatment of Western responsibility for mass atrocity yet published. The cumulative impact of the volume is a devastating indictment of state terrorism as practised by the West, both historically, and now after September 11 in the name of 'anti-terrorism.'" - Richard Falk, Professor Emeritus, Princeton University "In the names of millions of forgotten victims, from Wounded Knee to My Lai, a brilliant tribunal of scholars assail the himalayan hypocrisy of 'Western humanitarianism'." - Mike Davis, author of Late Victorian Holocausts 'Like communist and third world regimes, Western states have been opponents, bystanders, accomplices and perpetrators of genocide and war crimes. In different cases, they have also variously ignored, denied, covered up, re-examined, recanted, and refused to apologise for their roles. Is there a pattern here? "Genocide, War Crimes & the West" is definitely worth reading. In case studies and thematic essays, the authors offer a variety of answers and raise important new questions about democracy, foreign policy, and international law, uncovering the complexity along with the complicity in the West's relationships and approaches to genocide and war crimes.' - Ben Kiernan, Director, Genocide Studies Program, Yale University, and editor of Genocide and Democracy in Cambodia. "This book documents one of the darkest chapters in recent history. It tells the story of what the 'First World' - the Western democracies, most prominently the United States -- have done mainly against countries and peoples in the South and in the former socialist world. It is a history of aggression, indiscriminate bombing, war crimes, and massacres since the 1970s, the story of Western complicity in genocide in the South and East, and worse, it is about genocide committed by these democracies themselves. This path-breaking book fills a huge void; it carefully accounts for serious crimes that others have shamefully avoided, omitted or denied." - Christian P. Scherrer, Professor of Peace Studies, Hiroshima Peace Institute, Japan; author of Genocide and Crisis. 'A revealing compendium of studies regarding the crimes against humanity committed by "Western democracies." This book should give citizens a better sense of those parts of our history that remain largely unexamined and untaught.' - Michael Parenti, author of 'The Terrorism Trap' and 'The Assassination of Julius Caesar: A People's History of Ancient Rome'

A synoptic critique of the involvement of Western liberal societies in genocide and war crimes.

This text aims to expand the growing scholarly debate around genocide by exploring the involvement of the USA and other liberal "Western" democracies in activities supposedly restricted to totalitarian and authoritarian regimes. It examines the question of where responsibility for genocide resides, the variety of domestic and international institutional responses, and the moral basis for accusing Western countries of complicity. A large number of original case studies make clear how broadly conceived the subject ought to be; the wide range of state behaviours that can be criticised as constituting genocide, war crimes, or comparable mass violations of human rights; and the remedies that ought to be available. At a time when terrorism has become a near universal focus of public attention, this book shows why the actions of the West, both in centuries past and the Cold War era, have excited such widespread resentment and hatred around the world.

Adam Jones is professor at the Centre for Research and Teaching in Economics, Mexico City, and director of Gendercide Watch, a web-based educational initiative. The contributors are a mix of scholars and human rights activists. They include Steven Jacobs, Erik Markusen, Breyten Breytenbach, Ramsey Clark, and Linda Melvern (A People Betrayed, Zed Books 2000).