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How states use violence.

Article Excerpt
FRONTIERS AND GHETTOS: STATE VIOLENCE IN SERBIA AND ISRAEL By James Ron University of California Press, 253 pages, $79.95

In what direction are Israeli-Palestinian relations heading? Will the imminent withdrawal from the Gaza Strip lead the two peoples closer to a peace agreement? Or will the fighting between the two peoples reemerge with a vengeance once Jewish settlements have been dismantled and Israeli troops redeployed? In order to gain insight into what lies ahead, it is important first to analyze the use of violence in the region, asking ourselves why the employment of force was less lethal in certain areas than in others. This is precisely the question James Ron asks in his daring and groundbreaking book Frontiers and Ghettos. A sociology professor at McGill University in Montreal, Ron holds the Canada Research Chair in Conflict and Human Rights.

Ron's basic insight is that state violence is dramatically shaped by the institutional setting which it takes place. He analyzes Serbian behavior in Bosnia, Kosovo, Sandzak and Vojvodina, and Israeli behavior in the West Bank, Gaza Strip and Lebanon, employing two spatial metaphors--frontiers and ghettos. One reads that the crucial difference between frontiers and ghettos is the extent to which states control these arenas--legally and bureaucratically--and feel a moral and political sense of responsibility for their fate.

Ghetto residents are despised members of society, but both local and international rules stipulate that the state bears substantial responsibility for their welfare. Frontiers, by contrast, are perched on the edge of core states and are not fully incorporated into their zone of control.... In times of crisis and uncertainty, frontiers more easily become sites of ethnic cleansing.

Whereas ghettos...