Abram de Swaan

Compartimenten van vernietiging - over genocidale regimes en hun daders

An incisive exploration of why acts of mass annihilation take place and how people become mass killers By historical standards, the early years of the twenty-first century have been remarkably peaceful. Only rarely are people killed by their own kind, and only very, very rarely are they killed by other animals, microorganisms excepted. Nevertheless, even though the statistics should reassure, many people worry about lone killers, murderous gangs, and terrorist bands. At the same time, most people are vaguely aware that even in this relatively calm era, wars have made countless victims. Yet mass violence against unarmed civilians has claimed three to four times as many lives in the past century as war: one hundred million at least, and possibly many more. These large-scale killings have required the efforts of hundreds of thousands of perpetrators. Such men (and almost all were males) were ready to kill, indiscriminately, for many hours a day, for days and weeks at a stretch, and sometimes for months or even years. Unlike common criminals who work outside the mainstream of society, in secret, on their own or with a few accomplices, mass murderers almost always worked in large teams, with full knowledge of the authorities and on their orders. Without exception, they operated within a supportive social context, most often firmly embedded in the institutions of the ruling regime. Unlike terrorists, the mass murderers usually did not want their deeds to be widely known. How people are enrolled in the service of evil is a question that lies at the heart of this trenchant book. The subject here is mass annihilation--that is, massive, asymmetric violence at close range, where killers and victims are in direct confrontation. Abram de Swaan offers a taxonomy of mass violence that focuses on the rank-and-file perpetrators, examining how murderous regimes recruit them and create what De Swaan calls the "killing compartments" that make possible the worst abominations without apparent moral misgiving, without a sense of personal responsibility, and, above all, without pity. De Swaan wonders where extreme violence comes from and where it goes--seemingly without a trace--when the wild and barbaric gore is over. And what about the perpetrators themselves? Are they merely and only the product of external circumstance? Or is there something in their makeup that helps them become mass murderers? Drawing on a wide range of disciplines, including sociology, anthropology, political science, history, and psychology, De Swaan sheds light on an urgent and seemingly intractable pathology that continues to poison peoples all over the world.

The Mentality of Mass Murder

The Killing Compartments

In de afgelopen kwarteeuw is over de hele wereld het onderwijs op alle niveaus in razend tempo uitgebreid, vooral voor meisjes en jonge vrouwen. Daarmee veranderen de man-vrouwverhoudingen navenant. Emeritus hoogleraar Abram de Swaan ziet zowel de opkomst van alt-right als het hardnekkige jihadisme als een reactie op de voor mannen bedreigende vrouwenemancipatie. Het onderwijs aan meisjes heeft grote gevolgen gehad. Vrouwen trouwen later, krijgen later kinderen, werken langer en verdienen meer. Een kennis- en machtswinst die voor veel mannen maar moeilijk te verkroppen is. Die vrouwen hebben de mannen minder nodig, als beschermer of als financiële toeverlaat. Volgens De Swaan leidt de ondermijning van de mannelijke overheersing tot maatschappelijke en psychische spanningen, die te herleiden zijn tot de krenking van het mannelijk eergevoel: een collectieve en persoonlijke ?narcistische? krenking. Vertalen deze spanningen zich in de opkomst van extreem reactionaire bewegingen, al dan niet onder een religieuze dekmantel? En zullen deze bewegingen aan kracht winnen, of zijn ze een laatste stuiptrekking van een gedoemd patriarchaat?

Terugslag. De wereldwijde oorlog tegen vrouwen door jihadisten en rechtsisten

Marcel van der Linden

They still abound in Asia, Africa and Latin America.

Informal Savings Funds from the Global Periphery to the Core?

Mutualist Microfinance

H. G. de Gier

Erik de Gier

Machteld Ooijens

The sustainability and architecture of today's European welfare states and social security systems are under pressure. In addition to general trends such as individualization, ageing, and migration, the very process of European integration and globalization drives welfare states to reform. In this collection of essays five leading foreign welfare state experts reflect on the nature of the Dutch welfare state in a changing Europe. Comparative commentary from abroad provides policy wisdom as well as illuminating asides about national debates. These reflections from experts of neighboring countries (Germany, France, the United Kingdom, and Belgium) and the United States focus on various aspects of the Dutch welfare state, such as social security, labor market policy, health care, and immigration, and carry the intellectual discussion of a pressing political issue across borders. In this way the book contributes to the political debate on the future of the welfare state in the European context. It offers an interesting and provoking mosaic of the Dutch welfare state during the past two decades. At the same time, it reveals the important questions and dilemmas the Netherlands will have to cope with in the years to come. The observations and insights enrich the debate about the future of social policy in the Netherlands and in the European Union as a whole.

The Neighbours' View

Dutch Welfare Reform in an Expanding Europe

Beschouwingen van een politicoloog, tevens socioloog en psychoanalytisch psychotherapeut, over de samenhang tussen maatschappelijke ontwikkelingen en veranderingen in individuele ervaringswerelden.

Abram de Swaan

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