Democide


Democide is a term coined by political scientist R.J. Rummel to describe
"the murder of any person or people by a government, including genocide,
politicide, and mass murder". It is distinct from genocide, as the targeted
group may not be chosen for reason of nationality or ethnicity. For example,
government-sponsored killings for political reasons would be considered
democide. Democide can include deaths arising from "reckless and depraved
disregard for life"; this brings into account many deaths arising through
mass starvation.

While of relatively recent origin, the word has gained in use, particularly
by legal and social activists for human rights. It should, however, be noted
that the term democide is not yet widely accepted, and despite the clear
difference from the formal definition of genocide, the term genocide is
often misused broadly to refer to acts of democide. Although it is clearly
Rummel's intent that the term democide should include war deaths, many have
objected to the characterization of such deaths as murder.

Accusations of Democide

Accusations of mass killings by a government are relatively common. Less
common are well-documented cases with enough evidence to support the
accusation. Almost all accusations are disputed to some degree, although the
evidence in some cases is stronger than in others. For instance, many of the
figures cited in Death by Government, in which R.J. Rummel first coined the
term, have been criticized for not taking into account numbers of deaths
caused by the absence of government by means such as anarchy, civil
disorder, or foreign invasion.

Some frequently used examples of democide include The Great Purges carried
out by Joseph Stalin in the Soviet Union between 1934 and 1939, which led to
an estimated 20 million deaths (this figure is disputed), and the actions of
Mao Zedong in launching the Great Leap Forward in 1958, resulting in a
famine which killed many million of people. These were not cases of
genocide, because those who were killed were not selected on the basis of
their race, but were killed in large numbers as a result of government policies.

Significant 20th century democides

The following based on Matthew White's web site [1] lists the significant
democides where the death rate can be estimated to exceed 1,000,000.
Accurate figures are difficult to establish and many estimates tend to
reflect particular biases. In speaking of the Rwanda and Burundi democides
White concludes that the toll was "700,000 to 1,600,000 more or less".
Several of these amounts include a significant portion of famine deaths.

  1. World War II (1937-1945) 51,000,000
  2. Mao's China (1949-1975) 42,000,000
  3. Stalin's Soviet Union (1924-1953) 20,000,000
  4. World War I (1914-1918) 16,800,000
  5. Nationalist China (1928-1937) 9,600,000
  6. Russian Civil War (1917-1922) 8,900,000
  7. Congo Free State (1886-1908) 8,000,000
  8. Chinese War Lords (1917-1928) 6,800,000
  9. North Korea (1948-now) 4,600,000 (not including the Korean War)
 10. Congo Kinshasa (1998-now) 3,300,000
 11. Chinese Civil War (1945-1949) 3,000,000
 12. Nigeria (1966-1970) 3,000,000
 13. Korean War (1950-1953) 2,900,000
 14. German expulsions (1945-1947) 2,100,000
 15. Second Indochina War (1960-1975) 1,900,000
 16. Pol Pot's Cambodia (1975-1978) 1,800,000
 17. Sudan (1983-now) 1,500,000
 18. Ethiopia (1962-1992) 1,500,000
 19. Bangladesh (1971) 1,500,000
 20. Afghanistan (1979-2001) 1,400,000
 21. Mozambique (1975-1993) 1,100,000
 22. Mexico (1910-1920) 1,000,000
 23. Armenia (1915-1923) 1,000,000
 24. Rwanda and Burundi (1959-1995) 1,000,000
 25. Iran-Iraq War (1980-1988) 1,000,000

The total of these alone is 196,500,000