The deadly ethnic riot

Donald L. Horowitz's comprehensive consideration of the structure and dynamics of ethnic violence is the first full-scale, comparative study of what the author terms "the deadly ethnic riot" - an intense, sudden, lethal attack by civilian members of one ethnic group on civilian members of another ethnic group.

Serious, frequent, and destabilizing, these events result in large numbers of casualties.

The author examines approximately 150 such riots in about 50 countries, mainly in Asia, Africa, and the former Soviet Union, as well as 50 control cases.Furious and sadistic, the riot is nevertheless directed against a precisely specified class of target and conducted with considerable circumspection.

The author scrutinises targets choices, participants and organization, the timing and supporting conditions for the violence, the nature of the events that precede the riot, the prevalence of atrocities during the violence, the location and diffusion of riots, and the aims and effects of riot behaviour.

He finds that the deadly ethnic riot is a highly patterned but emotional event that tends to occur during times of political uncertainty.

He also discusses the crucial role of rumour in tri