R. J. Rummel
R. J. Rummel | |
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Kaneohe, Hawaii, U.S. | |
Education |
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Occupation | Political scientist |
Employers |
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Known for | Research on war and conflict resolution |
Website | hawaii |
Rudolph Joseph Rummel (October 21, 1932 – March 2, 2014)
Rummel estimated that a total of 212 million people were killed by all governments during the 20th century,
Rummel was the author of twenty-four scholarly books, and he published his major results between 1975 and 1981 in Understanding Conflict and War (1975).[15] He spent the next fifteen years refining the underlying theory and testing it empirically on new data, against the empirical results of others, and on case studies. He summed up his research in Power Kills (1997).[16] His other works include Lethal Politics: Soviet Genocides and Mass Murders 1917–1987 (1990),[17] China's Bloody Century: Genocide and Mass Murder Since 1900 (1991),[18] Democide: Nazi Genocide and Mass Murder (1992),[19] Death by Government: Genocide and Mass Murder Since 1900 (1994),[20] and Statistics of Democide (1997).[21] Extracts, figures, and tables from the books, including his sources and details regarding the calculations, are available online on his website. Rummel also authored Applied Factor Analysis (1970)[22] and Understanding Correlation (1976).[23]
Early life, education, and death
Rummel was born in 1932 in
Rummel died on March 2, 2014, aged 81. He is survived by two daughters and one sister.[1]
Academic career and research
Rummel began his teaching career at Indiana University. In 1964, Rummel moved to Yale University, and in 1966 returned to the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa, where he taught for the rest of his active career. In 1995, Rummel retired and became professor emeritus of political science. His research was supported by grants from the National Science Foundation, DARPA, and the United States Peace Research Institute. In addition to his books, Rummel was the author of more than 100 professional articles.[14]
Rummel was a member of the advisory council of the Victims of Communism Memorial Foundation.[24]
Democide
Rummel coined democide, which he defined as "the murder of any person or people by a government, including
In his work and research, Rummel distinguished between colonial, democratic, and authoritarian and totalitarian regimes,[25] and found a correlation with authoritarianism and totalitarianism,[26] which he considered to be a significant causative factor in democides.[5][27] Rummel posited that there is a relation between political power and democide. Political mass murder grows increasingly common as political power becomes unconstrained. At the other end of the scale, where power is diffuse, checked, and balanced, political violence is a rarity. For Rummel, "[t]he more power a regime has, the more likely people will be killed. This is a major reason for promoting freedom."[28] He wrote that "concentrated political power is the most dangerous thing on earth."[29] This correlation is considered by Rummel to be more important than reliability of estimates.[30]
Democracy and peace
After Dean Babst, Rummel was one of the early researchers on the democratic peace theory. Rummel found that there were 205 wars between non-democracies, 166 wars between non-democracies and democracies, and no wars between democracies during the period between 1816 and 2005.[31] The definition of democracy used by Rummel is "where those who hold power are elected in competitive elections with a secret ballot and wide franchise (loosely understood as including at least 2/3 of adult males); where there is freedom of speech, religion, and organization; and a constitutional framework of law to which the government is subordinate and that guarantees equal rights." In addition, it should be "well-established", stating that "enough time has passed since its inception for peace-sufficient democratic procedures to become accepted and democratic culture to settle in. Around three years seems to be enough for this."[2]
Regarding
Mortacide
While democide requires governmental intention, Rummel was also interested in analyzing the effects of regimes that unintentionally, yet culpably, cause the deaths of their citizens through negligence, incompetence or sheer indifference. An example is a regime in which corruption has become so pervasive and destructive of a people's welfare that it threatens their daily lives and reduces their life expectancy. Rummel termed deaths of citizens under such regimes as mortacide, and posited that democracies have the fewest of such deaths.[33]
Famine, economic growth, and happiness
Rummel included
Political views
Rummel started out as a
Rummel was critical of past
Rummel was critical of
Reception
Democratic peace theory
The democratic peace theory is one of the great controversies in
Rummel's version of the democratic peace theory has some distinctive features disputed by some other researchers who support the existence and explanatory power of the theory. Rummel's early research found that democracies are less warlike, even against non-democracies; other researchers hold only that democracies are far less warlike with one another. Rummel held that democracies properly defined never go to war with each other, and added that this is an "absolute or (point) claim." Other researchers such as Stuart A. Bremer found that it is a chance or
Rummel did not always apply his definition of democracy to governments under discussion, and he did not always clarify when he did not apply it. The opening paragraphs of an appendix from his book Power Kills[2] adopt Michael Doyle's lists of liberal democracies for 1776–1800 and 1800–1850. Doyle used a much looser definition, namely the secret ballot that was first adopted by Tasmania in 1856, while Belgium had barely 10% adult male suffrage before 1894.[65]
Factor analysis
Critical reviews of Rummel's estimates have focused on two aspects, namely his choice of data sources and his statistical approach. Historical sources Rummel based his estimates upon can rarely serve as sources of reliable figures.
Rummel's works have been criticized for establishing estimates on hearsay and unverifiable overtly high death estimates from highly biased authors. An example of this is in the Tito's Slaughterhouse chapter of Statistics of Democide, where Rummel quotes estimates for the democide record of Tito's Yugoslavia from authors who were sympathetic towards the Independent State of Croatia (NDH) and who attempted to downplay or deny the crimes of Ustaše in the Holocaust in the Independent State of Croatia, an example of those authors being Ivo Omrčanin, a former NDH official in foreign ministry and an espouser of fascist ideals.[9]: 87–88
Awards and nominations
In 1999, Rummel was awarded the Susan Strange Award of the International Studies Association.[67] This award recognizes a person "whose singular intellect, assertiveness, and insight most challenge conventional wisdom and intellectual and organizational complacency in the international studies community."[68] In 2003, Rummel was given The Lifetime Achievement Award from the Conflict Processes Organized Section of the American Political Science Association for "scholarly contributions that have fundamentally improved the study of conflict processes."[69]
Rummel used to publicly claim that he was a finalist for the
Never Again Series
Rummel wrote the Never Again Series of
Published works
Most books and articles by Rummel are available for free download at his Freedom, Democide, War website, including those not listed here.[73][74]
Books
- Dimensions of Nations, SAGE Publications, 1972
- Wilkenfeld, J., ed. Conflict Behavior & Linkage Politics (contributor), David McKay, 1973
- Peace Endangered: Reality of Détente, SAGE Publications, 1976
- Understanding Conflict and War, John Wiley & Sons, 1976
- Conflict in Perspective (Understanding Conflict and War), SAGE Publications, 1977
- Field Theory Evolving, SAGE Publications, 1977
- Der gefährdete Frieden. Die militärische Überlegenheit der UdSSR ("Endangered Peace. The Military Superiority of the USSR"), München, 1977
- National Attitudes and Behaviors (with G. Omen, S. W. Rhee, and P. Sybinsky), SAGE Publications, 1979
- In the Minds of Men. Principles Toward Understanding and Waging Peace, Sogang University Press, 1984
- Applied Factor Analysis, Northwestern University Press, 1988
- Lethal Politics: Soviet Genocide and Mass Murder since 1917, Transaction Publishers, 1990
- China's Bloody Century: Genocide and Mass Murder Since 1900, Transaction Publishers, 1991
- The Conflict Helix: Principles & Practices of Interpersonal, Social & International Conflict & Cooperation, Transaction Publishers, 1991
- Democide: Nazi Genocide and Mass Murder, Transaction Publishers, 1992
- Death by Government, Transaction Publishers, 1997
- Statistics of Democide: Genocide and Mass Murder Since 1900, Lit Verlag, 1999
- Power Kills: Democracy as a Method of Nonviolence, Transaction Publishers, 2002
- Never Again (series)
- War and Democide, Llumina Press, 2004
- Nuclear Holocaust, Llumina Press, 2004
- Reset, Llumina Press, 2004
- Red Terror, Llumina Press, 2004
- Genocide, Llumina Press, 2005
- Never Again?, Llumina Press, 2005
- Never Again: Ending War, Democide, & Famine Through Democratic Freedom, nonfiction supplement, Llumina Press, 2005
- The Blue Book of Freedom: Ending Famine, Poverty, Democide, and War, Cumberland House Publishing, 2007
Scholarly articles
Rummel had approximately 100 publications in peer-reviewed journals, including:[73][74]
- International Journal on World Peace, October–December 1986, III (4), contributor
- Journal of International Relations, Spring 1978, 3 (1), contributor
- Reason, July 1977, 9 (3), "The Problem of Defense", contributor
See also
Notes
- ^ Rummel wrote: "What if there were a solution to war and genocide? What if a secret society sent back to 1906 two lovers, Joy Phim, a gorgeous warrior, and John Banks, a pacifist professor of history, and gave them the incredible wealth and weapons necessary to create a peaceful alternative universe—one that never experienced the horrors of world war, the Holocaust, and the other atrocities of the twentieth century? And what if, at great personal cost, they succeed too well and create a peaceful world of complacent democracies? In Book 2, the clock is turned back to their arrival in 1906. They receive a message from the future of the universe they will create – Islamic fundamentalists have attacked the unarmed democracies with nuclear weapons and enslaved them. It is now up to these lovers to prevent this horrible future.[72]
References
- ^ a b "Rudolph Joseph Rummel". Honolulu Hawaii Obituaries. March 8, 2014. Retrieved August 31, 2021 – via Hawaii Newspaper Obituaries.
- ^ ISBN 9781412831703. Retrieved August 31, 2021 – via Freedom, Democide, War at the University of Hawaii System.
- ISBN 9781581826203.
- ^ Rummel, Rudolph (November 20, 2005). "Reevaluating China's Democide to be 73,000,000". Democratic Peace. Archived from the original on November 1, 2007. Retrieved August 31, 2021.
- ^ JSTOR 206491.
- S2CID 49573923.
- JSTOR 40260182. Retrieved 31 August 2021 – via Wilson Quarterly Archives.
- S2CID 142217169.
- ^ S2CID 145120734.
- ^ ISBN 9789197748728. Retrieved November 17, 2021 – via Forum för levande historia.
While Jerry Hough suggested Stalin's terror claimed tens of thousands of victims, R.J. Rummel puts the death toll of Soviet communist terror between 1917 and 1987 at 61,911,000. In both cases, these figures are based on an ideological preunderstanding and speculative and sweeping calculations. On the other hand, the considerably lower figures in terms of numbers of Gulag prisoners presented by Russian researchers during the glasnost period have been relatively widely accepted. ... It could, quite rightly, be claimed that the opinions that Rummel presents here (they are hardly an example of a serious and empirically-based writing of history) do not deserve to be mentioned in a research review, but they are still perhaps worth bringing up on the basis of the interest in him in the blogosphere.
- ^ ISBN 978-3-319-54463-2. Retrieved 30 August 2021.
- ISBN 9781581826203.
- ISBN 9781581826203.
- ^ a b c d "About R.J. Rummel". Freedom, Democide, War. University of Hawaiʻi. Retrieved August 31, 2021 – via University of Hawaii System.
- ISBN 9780803915572. Retrieved August 31, 2021 – via Freedom, Democide, War at the University of Hawaii System.
- ISBN 9781412831703. Retrieved August 31, 2021 – via Freedom, Democide, War at the University of Hawaii System.
- ISBN 9781560008873. Retrieved August 31, 2021 – via Freedom, Democide, War at the University of Hawaiʻi System.
- ISBN 9780887384172. Retrieved August 31, 2021 – via Freedom, Democide, War at the University of Hawaiʻi System.
- ISBN 9781412821476. Retrieved August 31, 2021 – via Freedom, Democide, War at the University of Hawaiʻi System.
- ISBN 9781560009276. Retrieved August 31, 2021 – via Freedom, Democide, War at the University of Hawaiʻi System.
- ISBN 9783825840105. Retrieved August 31, 2021 – via Freedom, Democide, War at the University of Hawaiʻi System.
- ISBN 9780810108240. Retrieved August 31, 2021 – via Freedom, Democide, War at University of Hawaiʻi System.
- ^ Rummel, Rudolph (1976). Understanding Correlation. Honolulu, Hawaii: Department of Political Science, University of Hawaiʻi. Retrieved August 31, 2021 – via Freedom, Democide, War at University of Hawaiʻi System.
- ^ "National Advisory Council". Victims of Communism Memorial Foundation. Archived from the original on June 10, 2011. Retrieved September 1, 2021.
- ISBN 9781351294089. Retrieved November 25, 2021 – via Taylor & Francis.
- S2CID 145155872.
Disagreeing with Rummel's finding that authoritarian and totalitarian government explains mass murder, Valentino (2004) argues that regime type does not matter; to Valentino the crucial thing is the motive for mass killing (Valentino, 2004: 70). He divides motive into the two categories of dispossessive mass killing (as in ethnic cleansing, colonial enlargement, or collectivization of agriculture) and coercive mass killing (as in counter-guerrilla, terrorist, and Axis imperialist conquests).
- ^ ISBN 9781412849746.
- ^ "An Exclusive Freeman Interview: Rudolph Rummel Talks About the Miracle of Liberty and Peace". The Freeman: Ideas on Liberty. No. 47. July 1997. Retrieved August 31, 2021 – via Freedom, Democide, War at the University of Hawaii System.
- ISBN 9781412849746.
- ^ ISBN 9780739199015. Retrieved November 11, 2021 – via Google Books.
- ^ .
- ^ a b c Rummel, Rudolph (February 20, 2005). "Democratic Peace Q&A Version 2.0". Freedom, Democide, War. University of Hawaiʻi. Retrieved August 31, 2021 – via University of Hawaii System.
- ^ Rummel, Rudolph (May 14, 2006). "Who were the Mortacracies of 2005?". Freedom, Democide, War. University of Hawaiʻi. Retrieved August 31, 2021 – via University of Hawaiʻi System.
- ISBN 9781412831703. Retrieved August 31, 2021 – via Freedom, Democide, War at the University of Hawaii System.
- ^ Rummel, Rudolph (February 20, 2006). "Global Corruption and Democracy 2006". Democratic Peace. Archived from the original on May 19, 2007. Retrieved August 31, 2021.
- ^ Rummel, Rudolph (February 6, 2006). "Happiness – This Utilitarian Argument For Freedom Is True". Democratic Peace. Archived from the original on November 2, 2006. Retrieved August 31, 2021.
- ^ Rummel, Rudolph (October 4, 2001). "Democratic Peace Clock". Freedom, Democide, War. University of Hawaiʻi. Retrieved August 31, 2021 – via University of Hawaii System.
- ISBN 9783319544632.
- ISBN 9781560009276. Retrieved August 31, 2021 – via Freedom, Democide, War at the University of Hawaii SystemSee also Cook on Stannard, p. 12. Rummel's quote and estimate from his Freedom, Democide, War website are about midway down the page after footnote 82. "Even if these figures are remotely true, then this still make this subjugation of the Americas one of the bloodier, centuries long, democides in world history.")
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: CS1 maint: postscript (link - ^ Rummel, Rudolph (February 20, 2005). "Democratic Peace Q&A Version 2.0". Freedom, Democide, War. University of Hawaiʻi. Retrieved August 31, 2021 – via University of Hawaii SystemIn the Fostering Democracy section, Rummel writes: 'I am opposed to invading a country to democratize it.'
{{cite web}}
: CS1 maint: postscript (link) - S2CID 145801545.
- JSTOR 421949.
- ISBN 9783825840105. Retrieved August 31, 2021 – via Freedom, Democide, War at the University of Hawaii System.
- ^ Rummel, Rudolph (July 18, 2009). "So What If A Lie?—It Is The Politics of Power". A Freedomist View. Archived from the original on November 19, 2020. Retrieved August 31, 2021.
- ^ Rummel, Rudolph (February 8, 2005). "Censor the Media". Democratic Peace. Archived from the original on June 8, 2007. Retrieved August 31, 2021.
- JSTOR 20753317. Retrieved August 31, 2021 – via Freedom, Democide, War at the University of Hawaii System.
- ^ Rummel, Rudolph (August 29, 2009). "The Kennedy Love Dysfunction". A Freedomist View. Archived from the original on February 14, 2021. Retrieved August 31, 2021.
- ^ Rummel, Rudolph (July 5, 2009). "Authoritarianism on the Way". A Freedomist View. Archived from the original on February 14, 2021. Retrieved August 31, 2021.
- ^ Rummel, Rudolph (July 7, 2009). "The Death of American Democracy". A Freedomist View. Archived from the original on November 19, 2020. Retrieved August 31, 2021.
- ^ Rummel, Rudolph (July 4, 2009). "Global Warming Is a Scam for Power". A Freedomist View. Archived from the original on November 12, 2020. Retrieved August 31, 2021.
- ^ Rummel, Rudolph (September 15, 2009). "Was The Democratic Peace Killed? Part VI, Death by Obama". A Freedomist View. Archived from the original on November 19, 2020. Retrieved August 31, 2021.
- ^ Rummel, Rudolph (February 21, 2005). "On Ward Churchill and Academic Leftimania". Democratic Peace. Archived from the original on May 14, 2005. Retrieved August 31, 2021.
- ^ Rummel, Rudolph (February 21, 2005). "Eliminate Tenure—Cure Leftimania". Democratic Peace. Archived from the original on May 19, 2007. Retrieved August 31, 2021.
- ^ Rummel, Rudolph (September 19, 2009). "Democratic Peace Bibliography Version 3.0". Freedom, Democide, War. University of Hawaiʻi. Retrieved August 31, 2021 – via University of Hawaiʻi System.
- ^ Rummel, Rudolph (August 31, 2009). "Democratic Peace Bibliography Version August, 2009". Freedom, Democide, War. University of Hawaiʻi. Retrieved August 31, 2021 – via University of Hawaiʻi System.
- ISBN 978-3-319-54463-2. Retrieved 30 August 2021.
A larger theoretical question it raises is why do some totalitarian and authoritarian regimes commit megamurders while others do not? Saudi Arabia, for example, is one of the most authoritarian states in the contemporary world, yet state executions only number in the hundreds. Uzbekistan is a similar example. And on the democratic side, Sri Lanka is one clear case of a democratic regime that in 1989–90 authorized military squads to track down and summarily execute members and suspected supporters of the JVP (Peoples Liberation Party), which had begun its second rebellion that threatened to overthrow the state. Between 13,000 and 30,000 were killed in this politicide—not a megamurder, of course, but a challenge to Rudy's basic argument.
- ^ Pugh, Jeffrey (April 2005). "Democratic Peace Theory: A Review and Evaluation". CEMPROC Working Paper Series. Archived from the original on February 15, 2018. Retrieved August 31, 2021 – via ResearchGate. See also the PDF version.
{{cite web}}
: External link in
(help)CS1 maint: postscript (link)|postscript=
- ^ S2CID 110790206. Quotations are from Gleditsch's Democracy and Peace (1995), a paper that warmly defends the existence of democratic peace, and asserts that it, and the difficulty distant states have in waging war against each other, fully account for the phenomena.)
{{cite journal}}
: CS1 maint: postscript (link - S2CID 144107474.
- S2CID 146346368. Archived from the original(PDF) on February 13, 2005. Retrieved September 1, 2021 – via Duke University.
- ^ Wayman, Frank W. (April 6, 2002). "Incidence of Militarized Disputes Between Liberal States, 1816–1992". International Studies Association. Archived from the original on March 13, 2003. Retrieved September 1, 2021.
- ^ Müller, Harald; Wolff, Jonas (August 9, 2004). Dyadic Democratic Peace Strikes Back: Reconstructing the Social Constructivist Approach After the Monadic Renaissance (PDF). The 5th Pan-European International Relations. Archived from the original (PDF) on June 25, 2006. Retrieved September 1, 2021 – via ECPR Standing Group on International Relations.
- JSTOR 20031781. Archived from the original on March 8, 2021. Retrieved September 1, 2021. See full article at Foreign Affairs.)
{{cite journal}}
: External link in
(help)CS1 maint: postscript (link|postscript=
- S2CID 108804763. Retrieved August 31, 2021 – via New York University.
- JSTOR 2265298.
- ISBN 9780300093001. Retrieved November 11, 2021 – via The New York Times Web Archive.
- ^ "Award Recipients". International Studies Association. Archived from the original on February 8, 2013. Retrieved September 1, 2021.
- ^ "Susan Strange Award". International Studies Association. Archived from the original on February 8, 2013. Retrieved September 1, 2021.
- ^ "Conflict Processes Organized Section Lifetime Achievement Award Recipients". American Political Science Association. Archived from the original on May 10, 2013. Retrieved September 1, 2021.
- ^ Rummel, Rudolph (July 30, 2005). "Praise for books by Nobel Peace Prize finalist R. J. Rummel" (PDF). Retrieved August 31, 2021 – via Freedom, Democide, War at the University of Hawaiʻi System.
- ^ Rummel, Rudolph (September 26, 2005). "A necessary footnote". Freedom, Democide, War. University of Hawaiʻi. Retrieved August 31, 2021 – via University of Hawaiʻi System.
- ^ a b "Freedom, Democide, War: An Alternative History Series". Freedom, Democide, War. University of Hawaiʻi. Retrieved August 31, 2021 – via University of Hawaii System.
- ^ a b "List of Documents on Site". Freedom, Democide, War. University of Hawaiʻi. Retrieved September 1, 2021 – via University of Hawaii System.
- ^ a b "Thematic List of Documents on Site". Freedom, Democide, War. University of Hawaiʻi. Retrieved September 1, 2021 – via University of Hawaii System.
Bibliography
- Gleditsch, Nils Petter (ed.). R.J. Rummel: An Assessment of His Many Contributions. SpringerBriefs on Pioneers in Science and Practice. Vol. 37. New York City, New York: Springer. pp. 1–16. ISBN 9783319544632.
- Peterson, H. C. (2017). "Regime Type Matters". In Gleditsch, Nils Petter (ed.). R.J. Rummel: An Assessment of His Many Contributions. SpringerBriefs on Pioneers in Science and Practice. Vol. 37. New York City, New York: Springer. pp. 97–106. ISBN 9783319544632.
Further reading
- Chan, Steve (March 2010). "Progress in the Democratic Peace Research Agenda". Oxford Research Encyclopedia of International Studies. Oxford, England: Oxford University Press. .
- Gleditsch, Nils Petter (November 1992). "Democracy and Peace". Journal of Peace Research. 29 (4). Thousand Oaks, California: SAGE Publications: 369–376. S2CID 110790206.
- Gleditsch, Nils Petter (December 1995). "Democracy and the Future of European Peace". European Journal of International Relations. 1 (4). Thousand Oaks, California: SAGE Publications: 539–571. S2CID 146572778.
- Gleditsch, Nils Petter; Hegre, Havard (April 1997). "Peace and Democracy: Three Levels of Analysis". Journal of Conflict Resolution. 41 (2). Thousand Oaks, California: SAGE Publications: 283–310. S2CID 152973748.
- Gleditsch, Nils Petter (July 2015). "Democracy and Peace". In Gleditsch, Nils Petter (ed.). Pioneer in the Analysis of War and Peace. SpringerBriefs on Pioneers in Science and Practice. Vol. 29. New York City, New York: Springer. pp. 61–70. ISBN 9783319038193.
- Górka, Marek (2017). "Polityka antyterrorystyczna jako dylemat demokracji liberalnej" [Anti-Terrorism Policy As a Dilemma of Liberal Democracy]. Czasopisma Marszalek (in Polish). 16. Koszalin, Poland: Politechnika Koszalińska: 62–89. S2CID 198726255.
External links
- Collection of essays on Rummel – edited by Nils Petter Gleditsch (2017)
- Archive Blog Topical Outline – topic and theme index to Rummel's blog posts
- Freedom's Peace archive – Rummel's blog (2004–2008)
- Why This "A freedomists View" Blog? – Rummel's blog (2008–2013)
- Why A New "Democratic Peace" Blog? – Rummel's blog (2008–2013)
- Communist Body Count – chart of Rummel's estimates
- Nazi Body Count – chart of Rummel's estimates