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Under-representation in Armed Forces: Examples of Yugoslavia and Rwanda
Nikola Petrović
Abstract
In this article ethnic under-representation in armed forces as one of the causes of ethnic wars is discussed. Examples of Yugoslavia and Rwanda, two countries that were marked by great ethnic conflicts in the 1990s, aim to present how two different models of ethnic under-representation influence the intensity and development of conflicts. Yugoslavian case shows transition from multi-ethnic to ethnically under-represented army and finally to uni-ethnic army during the dissolution of the state. Causes of this process in the Yugoslav People's Army, which were at the begining economical and cultural and at the end of the dissolution they became political and ethnical, have been analysed. In the end the creation of uni-ethnic army develops into the part of the plan to attack separated republics in 1991. Rwandian case is an example of the "Gurkha syndrome" or selecting one "warrior" nation to perform military functions in a given society. This situation after decolonisation resulted in the repetition of this pattern, but with reversed roles that influenced the cycle of violence which culminated with 1994 genocide. These two very different examples show the importance of the ethnic representation for the stability of multi-ethnic states and for the whole regions.
Keywords
ethnic under-representation; Yugoslavia; Rwanda; Yugoslav People's Army; Rwandan Patriotic Front; one-ethnic army
Hrčak ID:
17169
URI
Publication date:
31.12.2006.
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