The Dark Side of History

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Define the concept of assassination.

Assassination is defined as the deliberate, premeditated murder of a prominent figure for political reasons.

What are the causes of assassinations?

The causes of assassinations include: restrictions on political competition and strong polarization and fragmentation, lack of consensual political ethos and homogenous populations, politically deprived groups, domestic violence during election periods, and territorial fragmentation of a country.

What are the implications of an assassination of a political leader?

The implications of an assassination of a political leader can include destabilization of the existing political order, promotion of highly specific policy changes, prevention of the vice from ascending to the head of state position, vulnerability of opposition leaders in authoritarian systems, and increased vulnerability during violent domestic conflicts.

What is the potential consequence of the existence of unwanted children who are the product of rape?

Social chaos to the extent of destroying the culture and institutions of the society. Signup and view all the answers

What group of victims is often overlooked in discussions about rape?

Male victims. Signup and view all the answers

What is one example of the psychological damage suffered by male prisoners in Serbian detention camps?

Being deterred from engaging in future intimate relationships because of the psychological damage of seeing an erection met with violence. Signup and view all the answers

What is the relationship between enforced pregnancies and the identity of a community?

Enforced pregnancies may alter the identity of a community by changing the genetic makeup of the next generation. Signup and view all the answers

How does military rape aimed at enforced pregnancy contribute to genocide?

Military rape aimed at enforced pregnancy can be viewed as a crime of biological warfare and can contribute to the destruction and social death of a community. Signup and view all the answers

What are some ways in which the Brana plan's policy of enforced pregnancy can be seen as part of genocide?

The resulting children could be seen as Serbs, raped women could be stigmatized and ostracized, the community may be destroyed if raped women are unable to reproduce the next generation. Signup and view all the answers

How does the use of sperm as a weapon fit the concept of biological warfare?

The use of sperm as a weapon fits the concept of biological warfare as it targets the reproductive system in members of the enemy population and is designed to produce social chaos. Signup and view all the answers

What are the three types of pragmatic genocide?

The three types of pragmatic genocide are developmental, retributive, and hegemonic. Signup and view all the answers

What are the factors that contribute to genocide?

The factors that contribute to genocide include ethnicity, nationality, religion, economic dependency, underdevelopment, destitution, limited physical resources, usurpation of political power, marginalization, and quelling of insurgencies or threat of coup d'etat. Signup and view all the answers

What are the strategies that offenders of genocide use to conceal their actions?

The strategies that offenders of genocide use to conceal their actions include denying that genocide has taken place, belittling the scope of the crime if genocide has taken place, presenting genocide as justified, banalizing genocide by stigmatizing it as a dispute between ethnic or religious groups or as a usual part of war, and justifying the former victims' attempts of revenge when both sides commit the act. Signup and view all the answers

What is the logic behind enforced pregnancies and how can rape, enforced pregnancy, and resultant childbirths be considered genocide?

The intent of Serbian rapists appears to have been to produce Serb children, which can be considered a form of enforced pregnancies. Rape, enforced pregnancy, and resultant childbirths can be considered genocide when they are used as a means to destroy or harm a specific ethnic or religious group. Signup and view all the answers

What is the definition of assassination according to the text?

The action that directly or indirectly leads to the death of an intentionally targeted individual who is active in the political sphere, in order to promote or prevent specific policies, values, practices, or norms pertaining to the collective, intensify prospects of a state's fragmentation, and undermine its democratic nature. Signup and view all the answers

What are some potential consequences of the assassination of heads of state?

Decline in the democratic nature of a polity, increase in domestic violence, instability, and economic prosperity (rise of a more open economic power). Signup and view all the answers

What is the definition of genocide according to the United Nations' (UN) Convention?

Genocide means any of the following acts committed with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial, or religious group: killing members of a group; causing serious bodily harm or mental harm to members of a group; deliberately inflicting on the group's conditions of life calculated to bring about its physical destruction in whole or in part thereof; imposing measures intended to prevent births within the group; forcibly transferring children of a group to another group. Signup and view all the answers

How is ethnic cleansing related to genocide?

Ethnic cleansing is a purposeful policy designed by one ethnic or religious group to remove, by violent and terror-inspiring means, the civilian population of another ethnic or religious group from certain geographic areas. It is carried out in the name of misguided nationalism, historic grievances, and a powerful driving force for revenge. Ethnic cleansing has been carried out through murder, torture, arbitrary arrest, detention, extrajudicial executions, rape, etc. Signup and view all the answers