Democide (demos/democracy + homicide)

“Democide” (demos/democracy + homicide) is a word used to describe the murder of any person or people by a government. Hunter College professor Theodore Abel (1896-1988) wrote about “democide” in 1951, referring to Nazi Germany’s “genocide.”
 
University of Hawaii professor Rudolph J. Rummel is credited with popularizing the word “democide” in the title of several of his books since the 1980s, beginning with Democide: Nazi Genocide and Mass Murder (1986). Rummel defines “democide” as murder by government, “including genocide, politicide, and mass murder.”
           
 
Wikipedia: Democide
Democide is a term revived and redefined by the political scientist R. J. Rummel as “the murder of any person or people by a government, including genocide, politicide, and mass murder.” Rummel created the term as an extended concept to include forms of government murder that are not covered by the term genocide, and it has become accepted among other scholars. Rummel presents his definition without referencing any previous uses, but the term democide was defined and used in English more than 40 years earlier by Theodore Abel. In the 20th century, democide surpassed war as the leading cause of non-natural death.
 
Definition
Democide is the murder of any person or people by a government, including genocide, politicide, and mass murder. Democide is not necessarily the elimination of entire cultural groups but rather groups within the country that the government feels need to be eradicated for political reasons and due to claimed future threats. According to Rummel, genocide has three different meanings. The ordinary meaning is murder by government of people due to their national, ethnic, racial, or religious group membership. The legal meaning of genocide refers to the international treaty on genocide, the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide. This also includes nonlethal acts that in the end eliminate or greatly hinder the group. Looking back on history, one can see the different variations of democides that have occurred, but it still consists of acts of killing or mass murder. A generalized meaning of genocide is similar to the ordinary meaning but also includes government killings of political opponents or otherwise intentional murder. In order to avoid confusion over which meaning is intended, Rummel created the term democide for the third meaning.
 
The objectives of such a plan of democide include the disintegration of the political and social institutions of culture, language, national feelings, religion, and the economic existence of national groups; the destruction of the personal security, liberty, health, dignity; and even the lives of the individuals belonging to such groups.
     
Wikipedia: Rudolph Rummel
Rudolph Joseph Rummel (born October 21, 1932, Cleveland, Ohio) is professor emeritus of political science at the University of Hawaii. He has spent his career assembling data on collective violence and war with a view toward helping their resolution or elimination. Rummel coined the term democide for murder by government (compare genocide, his research claiming that six times as many people died of democide during the 20th century than in all that century’s wars combined. He concludes that democracy is the form of government least likely to kill its citizens and that democracies do not wage war against each other (see Democratic peace theory).
     
JSTOR
December 1951, Social Forces, pg. 150:
THE SOCIOLOGY OF CONCENTRATION CAMPS
THEODORE ABEL
Hunter College
(...)
THE FUNCTION OF CONCENTRATION CAMPS: DEMOCIDE
 
Google Books
Inventory of Research in Racial and Cultural Relations:
Bulletin, Volume 5
University of Chicago. Committee on Education, Training, and Research in Race Relations
1948-53, 1952
Pg. 1:
Genocide, which is the extermination of ethnic and racial groups, is a sub-form of “democide” which pertains to “extermination procedures against a population selected on the basis of any kind of social attribute.”
 
Google Books
The Nature of Conflict;
Studies on the sociological aspects of international tensions
By International Sociological Association.; et al
Paris: UNESCO
1958, ©1957
Pg. 81:
Theodore Abel has introduced and analysed the concept of ‘democide’, that is, extermination on the basis of any kind of social attribute, such as age, culture, education, political affiliation, as well as on the basis of race and religion.
 
OCLC WorldCat record
Democide : Nazi genocide and mass murder
Author: R J Rummel
Publisher: London : Transaction Publishers, 1986.
Edition/Format:  Book : English
 
New York (NY) Times
Battered Democrats Seek to Regroup
By ROBIN TONER, Special to The New York Times
Published: June 14, 1989
Even in a year when the unpredictable has become the norm in the House, the race for majority whip is confounding the Democrats as they prepare to caucus Wednesday morning to reconstruct their leadership.
 
The contest for the No. 3 job in the Democratic command is widely thought to be a tight two-way race between Representative William H. Gray 3d of Pennsylvania and Representative David E. Bonior of Michigan.
 
In an era of what some members describe as ‘‘Democide,’’ the party lost both Speaker Jim Wright, forced to resign in the face of ethics charges, and its majority whip, Representative Tony Coelho, who announced he would quit rather than endure an inquiry into his finances.
     
OCLC WorldCat record
Statistics of democide : genocide and mass murder since 1900
Author: Rudolph Joseph Rummel
Publisher: Münster [etc.] : LIT, 1997.
Series: Macht und Gesellschaft, 2. 
Edition/Format:  Book : English
 
OCLC WorldCat record
Democide and Genocide as Rent-Seeking Activities
Author: Gerald W Scully
Edition/Format:  Article : English
Publication: Public Choice, Oct., 1997, vol. 93, no. 1/2, p. 77-97
Database: JSTOR
Summary: Murder of the population by the state has been common historically and in modem times. I estimate a demand function for state-sponsored murder and find that it obeys the law of demand. The main focus of the paper is estimation of the change in the growth path of economies that practice democide relative to those that do not. On average, the rent-seeking loss associated with democide is about a 20 percent loss of wealth.
   
OCLC WorldCat record
Democide and Disarmament
Author: Don B Kates
Publisher: Project Muse
Edition/Format:  Article : English
Publication: SAIS Review, 23, no. 1 (2003): 305-309
Database: ArticleFirst
 
OCLC WorldCat record
Tito’s Slaughterhouse: A Critical Analysis of Rummel’s Work on Democide
Author: Tomislav Dulić
Publisher: Sage Publications
Edition/Format:  Article : English
Publication: Journal of Peace Research, 41, no. 1 (2004): 85-102
Database: ArticleFirst
Other Databases: British Library Serials; JSTOR
 
OCLC WorldCat record
War & democide : never again
Author: R J Rummel
Publisher: Coral Springs, FL : Llumina Press, ©2004.
Edition/Format:  Book : Fiction : English
 
OCLC WorldCat record
When and why to use the Term Democide for “Genocide”
Author: R J Rummel
Publisher: Upper Saddle River, NJ : Pearson Prentice Hall, 2004.
Edition/Format:  Article : English
Publication: Defining the horrific : readings on genocide and Holocaust in the Twentieth Century Defining the Horrific : Readings on Genocide and Holocaust in the Twentieth Century / William L. Hewitt (ed.), ISBN 013110084X, , P. 24-28 , P. 24-28

 
Infowars.com
Democide: Government Killed Over 260 Million in the 20th Century, Poised to Kill Billions More in the 21st
Mac Slavo
SHTFplan.com
March 17, 2012
The following documentary from Alex Jones (Infowars.com) details the various aspects of the behind-the-scenes plans of what many have dubbed the New World Order.