GIVE ME LIBERTY OR
GIVE ME (MASS) DEATH?
RECONSIDERING THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN
DEMOCRACY AND STATE-SPONSORED MASS MURDER
Matthew Krain
Department of Political Science, The College of Wooster
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ABSTRACT
This paper delves further into the relationship between regime type and state-sponsored mass
murder. I disaggregate regimes into theoretically relevant component elements and, revisiting the
analyses of the State Failures Task Force published by Harff (2003), I examine which if any
institutional or procedural components of democracy negatively affect the likelihood of the state
using lethal force to eliminate an entire domestic communal or political group. The results
confirm some of R. J. Rummel's findings regarding democracy and the lethal state, but are
unable to help explain how and why democracies decrease the likelihood of genocide or politicide.
Paper presented at the International Studies Association Annual Meeting, March
1-5, 2005, in Honolulu, Hawaii. THIS IS A DRAFT. Please do not cite without
permission of the author.