States

The case of Argentina is particularly interesting in the study of state criminality for at least two reasons. On the one hand, it offers a typical example of state terror, as witnessed under the military government between 1976 and 1983, which claimed 30,000 lives—allegedly with U.S., French and Church support. The terror exercised by the... Read more »

Between 1964 and 1985 Brazil was ruled by a repressive military dictatorship. The regime which followed the ousting of the democratically elected government of left-wing President João Goulart was in many ways typical of Latin American dictatorships throughout the continent. Freedom of speech and political opposition were brutally stifled and the regime censored all media.... Read more »

Occupied by the Japanese during World War II, Burma gained independence from the British in 1948. In 1962, the army took over the elected government and have ruled ever since. For 26 years, General Ne Win mismanaged the country to the point of economic ruin. In 1988, a peaceful protest was brutally suppressed by the... Read more »

The Khmer Rouge held power in Cambodia from 1975 to 1979 with a very narrow base of support and no realistic strategy for governing the country. The ensuing deaths of around 1.5 million Cambodians were attributable partly to deliberate genocide of ethnic minorities and others not deemed to be “true Khmer”, but predominantly to malnutrition,... Read more »

In 1996, an influx of armed men and civilian refugees fleeing the Rwandan genocide flooded into eastern DRC, setting off a conflict that would span over two decades and claim millions of civilian lives. Government and healthcare infrastructure in the region has been decimated, creating some of the worst health and development indicators in the... Read more »

Haiti is the poorest country in the Western Hemisphere with 55 percent of the population living below the poverty line of $1.25 a day. Not only do a considerable number of Haitians suffer from chronic poverty, but recurrent social unrest, violent conflict, and internal displacement have been significant features of Haiti’s history since the country’s... Read more »

The Israeli occupation of the West Bank and Gaza which commenced in 1967, constitutes one of the most persistent and contentious examples of state violence. Human rights organisations continue to express concern regarding the policies and practices of the occupation, including the regular use of arbitrary arrest and detention, extrajudicial assassinations, torture, the use of... Read more »

Ivory Coast (aka the Republic of Cote d’Ivoire) covers 322,500 sq. km. Its principal cities are Abidjan (economic capital, de facto political capital) and Yamoussoukro (official capital). Population is about 20 million; of which 10%-20% are indigenous, 35%-40% Muslim and 25%-35% Christian; with more than 60 ethnic groups, usually classified into five principal divisions: Akan... Read more »

State violence is a persistent part of the national governments strategic armoury. For much of the nineteen nineties PNGs North Solomons Province was subjected to a protracted campaign of state terrorism which featured extra-judicial killings, the forced displacement of villagers and a military blockade. PNGs mineral, gas and forestry projects remain sites of serious humanitarian... Read more »

In the spring of 1994, the impoverished country of Rwanda, hitherto unknown to wider society, suddenly became international front-page news with the outbreak of state sponsored genocide. Rwanda is a small, rural, landlocked country in the Great Lakes region of central Africa with few natural resources and minimal industry, primary exports being that of coffee... Read more »

Sierra Leone is a particularly interesting case study for several reasons, predominantly because it suffered a brutal civil war from 1991-2002. The conflict is important because of the way it developed and was sustained. Sierra Leone’s civil war is often acknowledged as one of the most violent of the 20th century; highlighted for the use... Read more »

The small island of Sri Lanka has experienced near-relentless conflict in the last four decades. Sri Lanka is a country with a richly documented but contradictory and polarised history. The two largest ethnic groups, the Sinhalese and the Tamils, are ideologically inclined towards notions of fundamental territorial entitlement and the elected, Sinhalese-dominated government of the... Read more »

Tunisia was under the control of Ben Ali from 1987 to 2011. Reportedly over 10,000 people were arbitrarily detained under the Ben Ali regime, mostly those involved in a form of Islamic politics. Ben Ali’s regime was synonymous with police repression. The thousands of police who were responsible for the everyday repression of Tunisians; police... Read more »

Since the 1970s the Turkish state has engaged in the active repression and persecution of political and ethnic minority dissidents. Most significant for understanding recent acts of state crime is the 15 year war the Turkish state prosecuted against Kurdish separatists (Kurdish Workers Party or PKK) in the countrys south-east. Repression, intimidation and violence, economic... Read more »

The territories of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland (UK) have a long history of state crime, spanning the atrocities of the British Empire to the Iraq War. Acts of state criminality in the UK continue apace in the present day.