The Banality of "Ethnic Conflict"

Abstract

John Mueller of The Ohio State University advances an alternative explanation for the violence that ripped through the former Yugoslavia and Rwanda in the 1990s. Mueller claims that in both cases the bloodshed was not the result of ethnic hatred that inflamed entire groups to attack one another. Rather it was the work primarily of "small, ill-disciplined, and essentially cowardly bands of thugs and bullies." These bands, recruited by political leaders and operating under their general guidance, could have been stopped by "any organized, disciplined, and sizable army" if the international community had recognized them for what they were. Mueller considers some of the implications that the mischaracterization of much internal conflict as ethnic violence could have on future peacekeeping missions.