ABSTRACT
The core concern of political science is power: how it is distributed and used within states and societies. International relations (IR) examines its use and distribution among the state units that compose the international system. The more constrained the power of governments, the more power is diffused, checked, and balanced, the less it will aggress on others and commit democide. In 1988, the authors first published data for genocides and politicides, and sought to isolate where, and under what conditions, outbreaks were likely to occur. Genocides occur with alarming frequency during or shortly after the revolutionary takeovers. Some scholars of IR declared that the end of the Cold War marked a break in the trajectory of modern war. The Cold War’s demise magnified the trends, and added new ones. It is a truism that the withdrawal of the superpowers from extensive military engagement in the Third World “lifted the lid” from simmering or dormant ethnic conflicts in many countries. Mainframe.
