Ethnic Violence

Ethnic violence (also known as ethnic terrorism or ethnically-motivated terrorism) refers to violence expressly motivated by ethnic hatred and ethnic conflict . It is commonly related to political violence, and often the terms are interchangeable, or one is used as a pretext for the other when politically expedient.

Ethnic violence is a catch-all term for violence that is motivated from racial or ethnic tensions. Some academics also place nationalist-based violence under ethnic violence, including the world wars. Ethnic violence is a result of ethnic conflicts not being resolved in a peaceful manner. However, one must not make the mistake of assuming any violent situation among ethnic groups constitutes ethnic violence. If the violence has political or ideological motivations, then it is not ethnic violence.

"Racist terrorism" is a form of ethnic violence dominated by overt racism and xenophobic reactionism. This form typically involves attacks on minorities, and is associated with right-wing extremism.

Racial supremacist groups such as Neo-Nazis epitomize ethnic terrorists, though other violent ethnic supremacist groups qualify.

Violent ethnic rivalry is the subject matter of Jewish sociologist Ludwig Gumplowicz's Der Rassenkampf ("Struggle of the Races", 1909); and more recently of Amy Chua's notable study, World On Fire: How Exporting Free Market Democracy Breeds Ethnic Hatred and Global Instability; and Kevin B. MacDonald's controversial works on the Darwinian-evolutionary politics of Judaism, which have been called anti-Semitic and white-supremacist.