The Dynamics of Killing. Some Empirical and Theoretical Considerations of Ethno-Religious Mass Violence

Since the beginning of the 21st century, religious and ethnic violence has proliferated all over the world. Often the violence happened on the background of a long conflict history and very often parts of the population – mostly a minority - is (systematically) discriminated against or excluded from state and society. In many cases, violence against the discriminated group occurs creepingly with local and temporal confined riots. Later on the violence is spreading: local assaults become nationwide pogroms, periodical riots become a permanent civil war. There is a heated theoretical and empirical debate over the question how to classify this violence, to define what forms of violence have been used and for what ends, no at least for the prognosis and prevention of mass violence. The paper is focusing on the history of conflict and escalation, the form and extent of violence, the social order of violence and the function of violence within each stage of conflict. To explain and to classify the violence I will use a four phase-context-scheme ranging from the first phase of co-existence, to a second phase of discrimination over a third phase of repression to the last phase of final solution. Interesting enough one finding is that in the course of the use of violence, plans are continually adapted to the success of it and eventually, the destruction of the victim group is accepted and finally consciously followed by the state. Moreover, a limited international interest in the fate of the victim group will often be interpreted as a carte blanche to continue with the violence. As an example the ethno-religious conflict in Sri Lanka between the Sinhala-Buddhist majority population and the Tamil-Hindu minority, is presented, which has produced hundreds of thousands death and displaced people. In 2009, the Sri Lankan military finally defeated the Tamil guerilla and liquidated about 40.000 civilians.