Mass violence in Southeast Asia

Any study of “mass violence” in Southeast Asia needs to account for an extraordinary range of historical experience. At a minimum, it must offer an explanation of communal riots and pogroms, rebellions, left-wing insurgencies, forced displacements, massacres, genocides and civil wars occurring in widely disparate cultural, geographical and political contexts. It must explain not only why violence occurred, but also why large numbers of civilians became party to it. Crucially, it must also provide a convincing explanation of the key variations in the patterns of violence – including variations in type, timing, location and target. This chapter is an attempt to provide such an account.

Related Subject(s): Human Rights and Refugees