GENOCIDE

In what sense can genocide said to be an extreme form of identity politics?

In what sense can genocide said to be an extreme form of identity politics?

Introduction

The political landscape has been overwhelmed by the identity politics over the last decades throughout the globe. The identity politics integrate an extensive range of political activities embedded in the collective experiences of injustice among the members belonging to a specific social constituency (Kuper, 1981, p.78). There has been great debate on the extent of connection between identity politics and genocide but a detailed overview of historical evidences, and an insightful look into the current fanatic happenings at the political forefront reinforce the idea that genocide is definitely an extreme form of identity politics. The most comprehensive definition of genocide has been provided in the Article 2 of the United Nations Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide (CPPCG) of the 1948 as " any of the acts committed with intent to destroy, a national, ethnical, racial or religious group” (Bauman, 1989, p.7). The CPPCG included following acts under the umbrella of genocide: killing and causing physical or mental impairment to members of another group, distorting the group conditions of life intentionally, aimed to destruct the other group completely or partially, imposing preventive measures to halt the births in group and shifting children of the group to another group with the use of power (Bauman, 1989, p.7).

Identity political orientations are mainly aimed at sustaining the political liberty of a typical social constituency (Kuper, 1981, p.80). The constituency strives to affirm an environment of individuality that puts the repressive characterizations in a challenging zone focusing on the reinforcement of self determination. Identity politics mainly refers to the political disputes centralized around the interests and perceptions of distinct social groups and their own ways of moulding the political frameworks with respect to their identical attributes of race, religion, class, gender or traditional supremacy (Kuper, 1981, p.81). The identity politics has always remained obvious but the later part of twentieth century turned identity political into a social tragedy by transforming into the more intense occurrences related with Genocide (Bartrop, 1981, p.520).

Genocide is an Extreme form of Identity politics

Political Upheaval

The identity politics are main propellers of political upheaval in any society. Navigation from the overall political welfare of the state to the more limited and narrowed objectives distorts the political quo of society which lies at the base of violent activities integrated in the genocide (Shaw, 2003, p.85). There are vigorous set of minds acting as a driving force behind every political unrest to sustain the individuality of the respective social constituency. Long term contradiction between the various social constituencies results in the emergence of a series of acts aimed at suppressing the threatening forces that ultimately result in burst of genocide.

Elite Ideologies and Autocracy

If the ruling party of state adheres to various tactical means for dominating or neutralizing the opposing political entities, the political landscape of the country takes an autocratic pace ...