Państwo narodowe na krwawym szlaku. W stronę socjologii ludobójstw w późnej nowoczesności
Nation State on the Bloody Trail. Towards Sociology of Genocide in the Late Modernity

Summary/Abstract: The article aims to demonstrate that genocidal violence is largely a consequence of executing basic functions of the nation state and results from the same mechanisms that are used for everyday reproduction of imagined communities such as nations. This is based on the findings of comparative genocide characterized in detail elsewhere. The first part of the article discusses these features of the nation state, which are crucial in the process of mobilizing the collective violence. Among them of key importance are: establishing of borders, their symbolization and defense; territoriality; reproduction of nations as imagined communities; waging wars and preparing for them; social engineering concerning classification of people and identity politics; ideological discourses. In the second part, the author analyzes the situation of nation states in late modernity. He points out, among others, the development of “post-military communities”, renaissance of mercenaries; neocolonial conflicts; “war on terror” and the ideas of global popular culture. The author argues that despite the rapidly changing international situation, nation states have not lost their genocidal potency, and under certain conditions genocide can take place.

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