Amoral Communities - by Mila Dragojevic (Hardcover)

About the Book

"This book shows how amoral communities - places where wartime violence against civilians is both tolerated and justified by the respective authorities - are created when the complementary processes of the exclusion of moderates and the production of borders connect ethnicity or other cultural identity with political orientation on the local level"--

Book Synopsis

In Amoral Communities, Mila Dragojevic examines how conditions conducive to atrocities against civilians are created during wartime in some communities. She identifies the exclusion of moderates and the production of borders as the main processes. In these places, political and ethnic identities become linked and targeted violence against civilians becomes both tolerated and justified by the respective authorities as a necessary sacrifice for a greater political goal.

Dragojevic augments the literature on genocide and civil wars by demonstrating how violence can be used as a political strategy, and how communities, as well as individuals, remember episodes of violence against civilians. The communities on which she focuses are Croatia in the 1990s and Uganda and Guatemala in the 1980s. In each case Dragojevic considers how people who have lived peacefully as neighbors for many years are suddenly transformed into enemies, yet intracommunal violence is not ubiquitous throughout the conflict zone; rather, it is specific to particular regions or villages within those zones. Reporting on the varying wartime experiences of individuals, she adds depth, emotion, and objectivity to the historical and socioeconomic conditions that shaped each conflict.

Furthermore, as Amoral Communities describes, the exclusion of moderates and the production of borders limit individuals' freedom to express their views, work to prevent the possible defection of members of an in-group, and facilitate identification of individuals who are purportedly a threat. Even before mass killings begin, Dragojevic finds, these and similar changes will have transformed particular villages or regions into amoral communities, places where the definition of crime changes and violence is justified as a form of self-defense by perpetrators.

Review Quotes

One of the book's assets is that it clearly shows the merits of interdisciplinarity and the wealth of questions that can be asked (and answered) when looking beyond the well-trodden paths of single disciplines. What is more, the author's deliberate breaking open of persisting stereotypes about people somehow being inclined to interact with each other in violent and amoral ways is a stimulating contribution to reviving discussion of the human side of the continuously politicized contexts of the dissolution of Yugoslavia.

-- "Suedosteuropa"

The book is particularly impressive in that it shows a nuanced understanding of the specific cases, while still having universal relevance. Amoral Communities is an outstanding contribution to the growing field of studies that examine micro-processes of conflicts.

-- "Southeastern Europe"

About the Author

Mila Dragojevic is Associate Professor of Politics at the University of the South. She is author of The Politics of Social Ties.