Doctor of Philosophy

dissertationEthnic cleansing is the policy and practice of systematic removal or elimination of an unwanted ethnic group, identity, and culture from a specific territory. The purpose is to create an ethnically pure space, using various methods including genocide. What explains ethnic cleansing across space and over time? What is the role of societal actors in the process of ethnic cleansing? When and under what conditions does ethnic cleansing become an option for state actors? Why do some ethnic cleansing campaigns succeed and others fail to attain ethnically pure spaces? Based on a multidimensional analysis of three different case-studies (time periods) from the Balkans region, between 1804 and 2004, I build a theory that describes and explains patterns - trends and behaviors - of ethnic cleansing and conditions under which ethnic groups, identities, and cultures are targeted with forced assimilation, deportation, and elimination. Methodologically, I carry out a comparative-historical research through the examination of documents recorded by governmental and nongovernmental organizations, writings of elites, oral histories, and records from the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia. Empirical evidence demonstrates that modern constructed religious and racial attitudes toward unwanted ethnic groups combined with the presence or absence of great power impartiality prevail over political, economic and security concerns in explaining patterns of ethnic cleansing. The study argues that when the unwanted ethnic group is deemed (i) iv a religious or racial, or (ii) a religious and racial threat to national and territorial integrity, and great power impartiality is upheld, the group generally is targeted with forced assimilation. When the unwanted ethnic group is deemed a religious or racial threat to national and territorial integrity, and great power impartiality is not upheld, the ethnic group generally is targeted with deportation. Finally, when the unwanted ethnic group is deemed a religious and racial threat to national and territorial integrity, and great power impartiality is not upheld, the group generally is targeted with elimination. These trends and behaviors of ethnic cleansing represent three different kinds of violence against unwanted ethnic groups, and are closely related with intentions and fantasies to dominate and rule over specific lands, spaces, and souls. While the study highlights the processes of state making and nation building through policies and practices of forced assimilation, deportation, and elimination, it develops context-sensitive patterns of ethnic cleansing and identifies the conditions under which a pattern is preferred upon the other, by looking at the contingencies of the international context, regional undercurrents, and domestic energies that produce opportunities to cleanse and kill