Quote of the day

The language of a captive community acquires certain durable habits; whole zones of reality cease to exist simply because they have no name

Syndicate content

Columns

Paul Rogers

Global security


Li Datong

China from the inside


Fred Halliday

Global politics


Mary Kaldor

Human security


Daniele Archibugi

Cosmopolitan democracy

Email & RSS

Sign up to oD's editorial summaries email:


Enter your Email


Powered by FeedBlitz


Follow oD on Twitter:


Join our Facebook group:
Add oD to your Netvibes: Add to Netvibes

Demotix witness*upload*share

Recent comments

Navigation

Martin Shaw

Martin Shaw is a historical sociologist of war and global politics, and professor of international relations and politics at the University of Sussex. His books include War and Genocide (Polity, 2003), The New Western Way of War (Polity, 2005), and What is Genocide? (Polity, 2007). His website is here

Recent articles


Sri Lanka - camps, media…genocide?

What kind of violence has the Sri Lankan state been committing against its Tamil civilian population as the island‘s civil war ended; on what scale and with what intentions? Martin Shaw explores the difficult terrain where war, atrocity and genocide meet.

The trouble with guns: Sri Lanka, South Africa, Ireland

The use of violence as an instrument of political liberation leads rather to failure and regression, says Martin Shaw.

A century of genocide, 1915-2009

The Ottoman-era massacres of the Armenians also belong to a century of "mass-death" episodes forged in war, state rivalry, ethnic targeting and expulsion, says Martin Shaw. 

The Kosovo war: between two eras

The Nato assault that prised Kosovo from Slobodan Milosevic's grip in March-June 1999 has been overshadowed by the Iraq war four years later. It deserves renewed attention both as the last of the major ex-Yugoslav conflicts and as a pioneering example of modern "risk-transfer war", says Martin Shaw.

(This article was first published on 31 March 2009)

Demotix

Democracy Support

The openDemocracy / International IDEA debate

Read Democracy on the ground by Keith Brown

International Institute for Democracy and Electoral Assistance