Origins of Political Extremism: Mass Violence in the Twentieth Century and Beyond, Manus I. Midlarsky (New York: Cambridge University Press, 2011), 442 pp., hardcover, $103.00/ 63.00, paperback, $36.99/ 22.99, e-book available

Abstract

Manus I. Midlarsky builds on his earlier study The Killing Trap: Genocide in the Twentieth Century (2005) by presenting a framework involving ephemeral gains—“control and then loss of political authority within a given territory” (p. 26)—which, when lost, lead those dispossessed to political extremism, violence, and even genocide. As the author explains, “This book advances the basic idea that the origins of political extremism are to be found in the contraction of authority space” (p. 10). He elaborates how “an ephemeral gain occurs when a severe loss (territory, population) or threats of its imminent occurrence, typically perceived as a catastrophe, is preceded by a period of societal gain, which in turn is preceded by a period of subordination” (p. 25). The author also argues that “exposure to national territorial loss within the ephemeral gain will make inhabitants of that country or region more likely to commit extremist acts than those of another country or region that did not experience such loss” (p. 19).