political science Political science is the scientific study of politics. It is a social science dealing with systems of governance and Power (social and political), power, and the analysis of political activities, political philosophy, political thought, polit ...

, policide describes the intentional destruction of an independent

political Politics () is the set of activities that are associated with decision-making, making decisions in social group, groups, or other forms of power (social and political), power relations among individuals, such as the distribution of Social sta ...

or social entity. Sometimes, the related word "

politicide Political cleansing of a population is the elimination of categories of people in specific areas for political reasons. The means may vary and include forced migration, ethnic cleansing and population transfers. Genocide Convention Under the G ...

" is used in this meaning. The term is used with some regularity within political science, generally to refer to a policy of destruction that falls short of

genocide Genocide is violence that targets individuals because of their membership of a group and aims at the destruction of a people. Raphael Lemkin, who first coined the term, defined genocide as "the destruction of a nation or of an ethnic group" by ...

ethnocide Ethnocide is the extermination or destruction of ethnic identities. Bartolomé Clavero differentiates ethnocide from genocide by stating that "Genocide kills people while ethnocide kills social cultures through the killing of individual souls". ...

Origin

Writer

Michael Walzer Michael Laban Walzer (born March 3, 1935) is an American Political theory, political theorist and public intellectual. A professor emeritus at the Institute for Advanced Study (IAS) in Princeton, New Jersey, he is editor emeritus of the left-win ...

credits the origin of the term "policide" (here, meaning the "destruction of a state's independence") to

Abba Eban Abba Solomon Meir Eban (; ; born Aubrey Solomon Meir Eban; 2 February 1915 – 17 November 2002) was a History of the Jews in South Africa, South African-born Israeli diplomat and politician, and a scholar of the Arabic and Hebrew languages. D ...

, Israel's foreign minister in 1967., accessed 10-24-2006 through Google Books. Similarly, professor Steve J. Stern has adopted "policide" to mean the destruction of political life itself. Stern describes the term as an extension of a family of terms including ''

homicide Homicide is an act in which a person causes the death of another person. A homicide requires only a Volition (psychology), volitional act, or an omission, that causes the death of another, and thus a homicide may result from Accident, accidenta ...

'', ''

patricide Patricide (or paternal homicide) is the act of killing one's own father. The word ''patricide'' derives from the Latin language, Latin word ''pater'' (father) and the suffix ''-cida'' (cutter or killer). Patricide is a sub-form of parricide, wh ...

'', ''

tyrannicide Tyrannicide is the killing or assassination of a tyrant or unjust ruler, purportedly for the common good, and usually by one of the tyrant's subjects. Tyrannicide was legally permitted and encouraged in Classical Athens. Often, the term "tyrant ...

'', ''

democide Democide refers to "the intentional killing of an unarmed or disarmed person by government agents acting in their authoritative capacity and pursuant to government policy or high command." The term, first coined by Holocaust historian and stat ...

'', and ''

''. Stern uses the term "policide," rooted in the Greek term ''

polis Polis (: poleis) means 'city' in Ancient Greek. The ancient word ''polis'' had socio-political connotations not possessed by modern usage. For example, Modern Greek πόλη (polē) is located within a (''khôra''), "country", which is a πατ ...

'' (πόλις) for "city-state" or "body politic," in order to describe what he characterizes as "a systematic project to destroy an entire way of doing and understanding politics and governance" in

Chile Chile, officially the Republic of Chile, is a country in western South America. It is the southernmost country in the world and the closest to Antarctica, stretching along a narrow strip of land between the Andes, Andes Mountains and the Paci ...

under the governance of

Augusto Pinochet Augusto José Ramón Pinochet Ugarte (25 November 1915 – 10 December 2006) was a Chilean military officer and politician who was the dictator of Military dictatorship of Chile, Chile from 1973 to 1990. From 1973 to 1981, he was the leader ...

., accessed 10-24-2006 through Google Books.

Examples

* In ''Writing Ground Zero'',

John Whittier Treat John Whittier Treat (born August 10, 1953 in New Haven) is Professor Emeritus of East Asian Languages and Literature at Yale University, Connecticut, United States, where he teaches Japanese literature and culture. He was co-editor of the ''Journa ...

refers several times to the destruction of

Hiroshima is the capital of Hiroshima Prefecture in Japan. , the city had an estimated population of 1,199,391. The gross domestic product (GDP) in Greater Hiroshima, Hiroshima Urban Employment Area, was US$61.3 billion as of 2010. Kazumi Matsui has b ...

and

Nagasaki , officially , is the capital and the largest Cities of Japan, city of Nagasaki Prefecture on the island of Kyushu in Japan. Founded by the Portuguese, the port of Portuguese_Nagasaki, Nagasaki became the sole Nanban trade, port used for tr ...

as "policide.", accessed through Google Books 10-24-2006 * In ''Circle of Goods,'' Tressa Lynn Berman describes

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

policy towards Native Americans as a historical process shifting from ethnocide into "policide.", accessed through Google Books 10-24-2006 * The term "policide" frequently arises with respect to the intention to eradicate the state of

Israel Israel, officially the State of Israel, is a country in West Asia. It Borders of Israel, shares borders with Lebanon to the north, Syria to the north-east, Jordan to the east, Egypt to the south-west, and the Mediterranean Sea to the west. Isr ...

Yossi Beilin Joseph "Yossi" Beilin (; born 12 June 1948) is an Israeli politician who has served in multiple ministerial and leadership positions in the Israeli government. Much of his political career was in the Labour Party. He also served as chairman of t ...

discusses Israeli Prime Minister

Benjamin Netanyahu Benjamin Netanyahu (born 21 October 1949) is an Israeli politician who has served as the prime minister of Israel since 2022, having previously held the office from 1996 to 1999 and from 2009 to 2021. Netanyahu is the longest-serving prime min ...

's use of the term to describe the

Palestine Liberation Organization The Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO; ) is a Palestinian nationalism, Palestinian nationalist coalition that is internationally recognized as the official representative of the Palestinians, Palestinian people in both the occupied Pale ...

's claim that it is dedicated to the ultimate destruction of the state of Israel., accessed through Google Books 10-24-2006 Netanyahu has continued to use the term in his writings and speeches, for example writing that " Arafat pursues a goal of 'policide' - the destruction of the Jewish state, by employing the means of suicide and mass terror". The declared intention of

Hamas The Islamic Resistance Movement, abbreviated Hamas (the Arabic acronym from ), is a Palestinian nationalist Sunni Islam, Sunni Islamism, Islamist political organisation with a military wing, the Qassam Brigades. It has Gaza Strip under Hama ...

Palestinian Islamic Jihad The Islamic Jihad Movement in Palestine (, ''Harakat al-Jihād al-Islāmi fi Filastīn''), commonly known simply as Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ), is a Palestinian Islamist paramilitary organization formed in 1981. PIJ formed as an offsh ...

Hezbollah Hezbollah ( ; , , ) is a Lebanese Shia Islamist political party and paramilitary group. Hezbollah's paramilitary wing is the Jihad Council, and its political wing is the Loyalty to the Resistance Bloc party in the Lebanese Parliament. I ...

and Iran's President

Mahmoud Ahmadinejad Mahmoud Ahmadinejad (born Mahmoud Sabbaghian on 28 October 1956) is an Iranian Iranian principlists, principlist and Iranian nationalism, nationalist politician who served as the sixth president of Iran from 2005 to 2013. He is currently a mem ...

is the destruction of Israel and this had led to claims that Arab/Muslim groups support the notion of policide regarding Israel. * Israeli sociologist

Baruch Kimmerling Baruch Kimmerling (Hebrew: ברוך קימרלינג; 16 October 1939 – 20 May 2007) was an Israeli scholar and professor of sociology at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. Upon his death in 2007, ''The Times'' described him as "the first academ ...

uses the term in his book ''Politicide: Sharon’s War Against the

Palestinians Palestinians () are an Arab ethnonational group native to the Levantine region of Palestine. *: "Palestine was part of the first wave of conquest following Muhammad's death in 632 CE; Jerusalem fell to the Caliph Umar in 638. The indigenou ...

'' and in various articles. He defines "the

of the Palestinian people, a gradual but systematic attempt to cause their annihilation as an independent political and social entity." This he believed has been present throughout Israel's confrontations with the Palestinians, but was epitomised by the thoughts and actions of

Ariel Sharon Ariel Sharon ( ; also known by his diminutive Arik, ; 26 February 192811 January 2014) was an Israeli general and politician who served as the prime minister of Israel from March 2001 until April 2006. Born in Kfar Malal in Mandatory Palestin ...

. *The city of

Nishapur Nishapur or Neyshabur (, also ) is a city in the Central District (Nishapur County), Central District of Nishapur County, Razavi Khorasan province, Razavi Khorasan province, Iran, serving as capital of both the county and the district. Ni ...

, a

Persian Persian may refer to: * People and things from Iran, historically called ''Persia'' in the English language ** Persians, the majority ethnic group in Iran, not to be conflated with the Iranic peoples ** Persian language, an Iranian language of the ...

city in modern-day Iran, was sacked and destroyed by the Mongols in 1221. In retaliation for the death of the son-in-law of

Genghis Khan Genghis Khan (born Temüjin; August 1227), also known as Chinggis Khan, was the founder and first khan (title), khan of the Mongol Empire. After spending most of his life uniting the Mongols, Mongol tribes, he launched Mongol invasions and ...

, around 1.75 million inhabitants of the city were systematically killed. A great number of their skulls were reputedly piled in pyramids outside the city walls.

References

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Origin

Examples

See also

References

Further reading