''The Dark Side of Democracy: Explaining Ethnic Cleansing'' is a 2005 book by

Michael Mann Michael Kenneth Mann (born February 5, 1943) is an American film director, screenwriter, author and producer, best known for his stylized crime dramas. He has received a BAFTA Award and two Primetime Emmy Awards as well as nominations for four ...

which argues that democracy often leads to violent

ethnic cleansing Ethnic cleansing is the systematic forced removal of ethnic, racial, or religious groups from a given area, with the intent of making the society ethnically homogeneous. Along with direct removal such as deportation or population transfer, it ...

to make the nation more ethnically homogenous. Mann's argument was described as a provocative challenge to positive views of democracy. However, one reviewer stated that in his book Mann often qualified the linkage of democracy and ethnic cleansing, to the extent that the principal argument in the book could be summarized as "in all periods in human history political leaders have ordered or tolerated the murder of subsets of their populations", but in recent times victims are targeted for their membership in an ethnic group rather than place of residence or religion.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Dark Side of Democracy, The 2005 non-fiction books History books about ethnic cleansing Cambridge University Press books Books about democracy