Leiden University Student Repository

Valakche, Anahita (2018)

Motivations for Mass Violence: A Case Study of 1965-1966 Anti-Communist Killings in Indonesia

Master thesis | International Relations (MA)

This thesis seeks to determine which actor had the greatest amount of responsibility for the emergence of 1965-1966 anti-communist mass killings in Indonesia and to explore why each actor opted for indiscriminate violence. The piece will discuss the applicability of three explanations for mass violence while using Indonesia as a case study. First theory will analyze economic reasons such as military’s financial incentives for the killings and foreign economic influences that have possibly encouraged mass violence; the second theory will look at the role of citizens and local forces through a bottom-up approach. The third theory will suggest an original explanation by van der Maat who argues that mass violence occurs when a political elite attempts to safeguard its position and seeks to eradicate dangerous intra-elite rivals through genocidal consolidation.

Genocidal Consolidation

Mass Violence

Indonesia

Genocide

Intra-elite rivalry

Suharto

Sukarno

Author

Valakche, Anahita

Faculty

Faculty of Humanities

Specialisation

International Relations

Supervisors

Maat, Eelco van der

ECTS Credits

15

Language

en