Editing Democide (section)

== Definition ==

Democide is the murder of any person or people by "their" government (normally the one under whose jurisdiction they live), including [[genocide]], [[politicide]], and [[mass murder]]. Democide is not necessarily the elimination of entire cultural groups but rather groups within the country that the government feels need to be eradicated for political reasons and due to claimed future threats.<ref name="Harff 1996"/><ref name="Harff 2017"/>

According to Rummel, genocide has three different meanings. The ordinary meaning is murder by government of people due to their national, ethnic, racial or religious group membership. The legal meaning of genocide refers to the international treaty on genocide, the [[Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide]]. This also includes nonlethal acts that in the end eliminate or greatly hinder the group. Looking back on history, one can see the different variations of democides that have occurred, but it still consists of acts of killing or mass murder. The generalized meaning of genocide is similar to the ordinary meaning but also includes government killings of political opponents or otherwise intentional murder. In order to avoid confusion over which meaning is intended, Rummel created ''democide'' for this third meaning.<ref>{{cite web|last=Rummel|first=Rudolph|date=May 1998|url=http://www.hawaii.edu/powerkills/GENOCIDE.HTM|title=Democide versus Genocide: Which Is What?|website=Power Kills|access-date=2 December 2021}}</ref>

In "How Many Did Communist Regimes Murder?", Rummel wrote:
<blockquote>First, however, I should clarify the term democide. It means for governments what murder means for an individual under [[municipal law]]. It is the premeditated killing of a person in cold blood, or causing the death of a person through [[recklessness (law)|reckless and wanton disregard for their life]]. Thus, a government incarcerating people in a prison under such deadly conditions that they die in a few years is murder by the state—democide—as would parents letting a child die from malnutrition and exposure be murder. So would government forced labor that kills a person within months or a couple of years be murder. So would government created famines that then are ignored or knowingly aggravated by government action be murder of those who starve to death. And obviously, [[extrajudicial execution]]s, death by torture, government massacres, and all genocidal killing be murder. However, judicial executions for crimes that internationally would be considered capital offenses, such as for murder or treason (as long as it is clear that these are not fabricated for the purpose of executing the accused, as in communist show trials), are not democide. Nor is democide the killing of enemy soldiers in combat or of armed rebels, nor of noncombatants as a result of military action against military targets.<ref name="Rummel 1993">{{cite web|last=Rummel|first=Rudolph|date=November 1993|url=http://www.hawaii.edu/powerkills/COM.ART.HTM|url-status=live|title=How Many Did Communist Regimes Murder?|website=Power Kills|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180825013702/http://www.hawaii.edu/powerkills/COM.ART.HTM|archive-date=25 August 2018|access-date=14 November 2020}}</ref></blockquote>

In his work and research, Rummel distinguished between [[Colonialism|colonial]], [[Democracy|democratic]], and [[authoritarian]] and [[totalitarian]] regimes.<ref>{{cite journal|last1=Tago|first1=Atsushi|last2=Wayman|first2=Frank|date=January 2010|title=Explaining the Onset of Mass Killing, 1949–87|journal=Journal of Peace Research|location=Thousand Oaks, California|publisher=SAGE Publications|volume=47|issue=1|pages=3–13|doi=10.1177/0022343309342944|issn=0022-3433|jstor=25654524|s2cid=145155872}}</ref> He defined totalitarianism as follows:
<blockquote>There is much confusion about what is meant by totalitarian in the literature, including the denial that such systems even exist. I define a totalitarian state as one with a system of government that is unlimited [[constitution]]ally or by countervailing powers in society (such as by a church, rural gentry, labor unions, or regional powers); is not held responsible to the public by periodic [[secret ballot|secret]] and competitive elections; and employs its unlimited power to control all aspects of society, including the family, religion, education, business, private property, and social relationships. Under [[Stalin]], the [[Soviet Union]] was thus totalitarian, as was [[Mao]]'s [[History of the People's Republic of China (1949–1976)|China]], [[Pol Pot]]'s [[Democratic Kampuchea|Cambodia]], [[Hitler]]'s [[Nazi Germany|Germany]], and [[U Ne Win]]'s [[Socialist Republic of the Union of Burma|Burma]]. Totalitarianism is then a political ideology for which a totalitarian government is the agency for realizing its ends. Thus, totalitarianism characterizes such ideologies as [[state socialism]] (as in Burma), [[Marxism-Leninism]] as in former [[East Germany]], and [[Nazism]]. Even revolutionary Moslem [[Iran]] since the [[Iranian Revolution|overthrow of the Shah in 1978–79]] has been totalitarian—here totalitarianism was married to [[Islamic fundamentalism|Moslem fundamentalism]]. In short, totalitarianism is the ideology of absolute power. State socialism, [[communism]], Nazism, [[fascism]], and Moslem fundamentalism have been some of its recent raiments. Totalitarian governments have been its agency. The state, with its international legal sovereignty and independence, has been its base. As will be pointed out, mortacracy is the result.<ref name="Rummel 1994b">{{cite book|last=Rummel|first=Rudolph|year=1994|chapter=Democide in Totalitarian States: Mortacracies and Megamurderers|editor-last1=Charny|editor-first1=Israel W.|editor-last2=Horowitz|editor-first2=Irving Louis|title=The Widening Circle of Genocide|pages=3–40|edition=1st|publisher=Routledge|doi=10.4324/9781351294089-2|isbn=9781351294089}}</ref></blockquote>