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“Thugs with Guns”: Disaggregating “Ethnic Violence” in the Russian Federation

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 November 2018

Richard Arnold
Richard Arnold*
Affiliation:
Muskingum University, USA, c/o Kerry Hodak, 231 E. Arcadia Avenue, Columbus, OH 43202, USA. Email: Arnold.301@polisci.osu.edu
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Extract

How can one understand the phenomenon known as “ethnic violence?” Does subsuming events under the category “ethnic violence” assist our understanding or does it obscure it? Are there lessons that the form ethnic violence takes can teach us? These questions are important not only for anyone interested in the causes and prevention of ethnic violence but also for those who wish to understand group behavior more generally. I explore this question more fully through analysis of the case of the Russian Federation. Russia is a country where in recent times skinhead violence against ethnic minorities has become an important issue. According to Tarasov, Russia contains between 60,000 and 65,000 skinheads active in at least 85 different cities. These skinheads daily commit appalling acts of violence against members of ethnic minorities and human rights activists. Three instances of violence all from the year 2006 help to illustrate some of their activities.

Type
Articles
Information
Nationalities Papers , Volume 37 , Issue 5 , September 2009 , pp. 641 - 664
Copyright
Copyright © 2009 Association for the Study of Nationalities 

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