R. J. Rummel

{{short description|American political scientist (1932–2014)}} {{Infobox person | name = R. J. Rummel | image = RJRummel.jpg | alt = | caption = | birth_name = Rudolph Joseph Rummel | birth_date = {{birth date|1932|10|21}} | birth_place = [[Cleveland]], Ohio, U.S. | death_date = {{death date and age|2014|03|02|1932|10|21}} | death_place = [[Kaneohe]], Hawaii, U.S. | occupation = Political scientist | education = {{unbulleted list|[[University of Hawaiʻi]]|([[Bachelor of Arts|BA]], [[political science]], 1959)|([[Master of Arts|MA]], political science, 1961)|[[Northwestern University]]|([[Doctor of Philosophy|PhD]], political science, 1963)}} | employer = {{unbulleted list|[[Indiana University]] (1963–1964)|[[Yale University]] (1964–1966)|University of Hawaiʻi (1966–1995)}} | known_for = Research on [[war]] and [[conflict resolution]] | website = {{URL|hawaii.edu/powerkills}} }} '''Rudolph Joseph Rummel''' (October 21, 1932 – March 2, 2014)<ref name="Obituary">{{cite web|url=http://obits.staradvertiser.com/2014/03/08/rudolph-joseph-rummel/|title=Rudolph Joseph Rummel|website=Honolulu Hawaii Obituaries|date=March 8, 2014|accessdate=August 31, 2021|via=Hawaii Newspaper Obituaries}}</ref> was an American [[political scientist]], a [[statistician]] and professor at [[Indiana University]], [[Yale University]], and [[University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa]]. He spent his career studying data on collective violence and war with a view toward helping their resolution or elimination. Contrasting ''[[genocide]]'', Rummel coined the term ''[[democide]]'' for murder by government, such as the [[genocide of indigenous peoples]] and [[colonialism]], [[Nazi Germany]], the [[Stalinist purges]], [[Mao Zedong]]'s [[Cultural Revolution]], and other [[authoritarian]], [[totalitarian]], or undemocratic regimes, coming to the conclusion that [[democratic regimes]] result in the least democides.<ref name="Democracies FAQ">{{cite book|last=Rummel|first=Rudolph|year=2002|orig-year=1997|chapter-url=http://www.hawaii.edu/powerkills/PK.APPEN1.1.HTM|chapter=Appendix to Chapter 1: Q and A on the Fact that Democracies Do Not Make War on Each Other|url=https://www.hawaii.edu/powerkills/NOTE6.HTM|title=Power Kills: Democracy as a Method of Nonviolence|location=New Brunswick, New Jersey|publisher=Transaction Publishers|isbn=9781412831703|accessdate=August 31, 2021|via=Freedom, Democide, War at the University of Hawaii System}}</ref>

Rummel estimated that a total of 212 million people were killed by all governments during the 20th century,<ref>{{cite book|last=Rummel|first=Rudolph|year=2007|title=The Blue Book of Freedom: Ending Famine, Poverty, Democide, and War|edition=paperback|location=Nashville, Tennessee|publisher=Cumberland House Publishing|page=99|isbn=9781581826203}}</ref> of which 148 million were killed by [[Communist governments]] from 1917 to 1987.<ref>{{cite web|last=Rummel|first=Rudolph|date=November 20, 2005|url=https://freedomspeace.blogspot.com/2005/11/reevaluating-chinas-democide-to-be.html|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20071101055924/http://freedomspeace.blogspot.com/2005/11/reevaluating-chinas-democide-to-be.html|archivedate=November 1, 2007|url-status=dead|title=Reevaluating China's Democide to be 73,000,000|website=Democratic Peace|accessdate=August 31, 2021}}</ref> To give some perspective on these numbers, Rummel stated that all domestic and foreign wars during the 20th century killed in combat around 41 million. His figures for Communist governments have been criticized for the methodology which he used to arrive at them, and they have also been criticized for being higher than the figures which have been given by most scholars.<ref name="Harff 1996">{{cite journal|last=Harff|first=Barbara|date=Summer 1996|title=Review. Reviewed Work: ''Death by Government'' by R. J. Rummel|journal=The Journal of Interdisciplinary History|location=Boston, Massachusetts|publisher=The MIT Press|volume=27|issue=1|pages=117–119|doi=10.2307/206491|jstor=206491}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal|last=Kuromiya|first=Hiroaki|date=January 2001|title=Review Article: Communism and Terror|journal=Journal of Contemporary History|location=Thousand Oaks, California|publisher=SAGE Publications|volume=36|issue=1|pages=191–201|doi=10.1177/002200940103600110|jstor=261138|s2cid=49573923}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal|last=Paczkowski|first=Andrzej|date=Spring 2001|url=http://archive.wilsonquarterly.com/essays/storm-over-black-book|title=The Storm over ''The Black Book''|journal=The Wilson Quarterly|location=Washington, D.C.|publisher=Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars|volume=25|issue=2|pages=28–34|jstor=40260182|accessdate=31 August 2021|via=Wilson Quarterly Archives}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal|last=Weiner|first=Amir|date=Winter 2002|title=Review. Reviewed Work: ''The Black Book of Communism: Crimes, Terror, Repression'' by Stéphane Courtois, Nicolas Werth, Jean-Louis Panné, Andrzej Paczkowski, Karel Bartošek, Jean-Louis Margolin, Jonathan Murphy, Mark Kramer|journal=The Journal of Interdisciplinary History|location=Boston, Massachusetts|publisher=The MIT Press|volume=32|issue=3|pages=450–452|doi=10.1162/002219502753364263|jstor=3656222|s2cid=142217169}}</ref><ref name="Dulić 2004">{{cite journal|last=Dulić|first=Tomislav|date=January 2004|title=Tito's Slaughterhouse: A Critical Analysis of Rummel's Work on Democide|journal=Journal of Peace Research|location=Thousand Oaks, California|publisher=SAGE Publications|volume=41|issue=1|pages=85–102|doi=10.1177/0022343304040051|jstor=4149657|s2cid=145120734}}</ref><ref name="Karlsson & Schoenhals 2008">{{cite book|editor-last1=Karlsson|editor-first1=Klas-Göran|editor-last2=Schoenhals|editor-first2=Michael|year=2008|url=https://www.levandehistoria.se/sites/default/files/material_file/research-review-crimes-against-humanity.pdf|title=Crimes Against Humanity under Communist Regimes – Research Review|location=Stockholm, Sweden|publisher=Forum for Living History|pages=35, 79|isbn=9789197748728|quote=While Jerry Hough suggested Stalin's terror claimed tens of thousands of victims, R.J. Rummel puts the death toll of Soviet communist terror between 1917 and 1987 at 61,911,000. In both cases, these figures are based on an ideological preunderstanding and speculative and sweeping calculations. On the other hand, the considerably lower figures in terms of numbers of Gulag prisoners presented by Russian researchers during the glasnost period have been relatively widely accepted. ... It could, quite rightly, be claimed that the opinions that Rummel presents here (they are hardly an example of a serious and empirically-based writing of history) do not deserve to be mentioned in a research review, but they are still perhaps worth bringing up on the basis of the interest in him in the blogosphere.|accessdate=November 17, 2021|via=Forum för levande historia}}</ref><ref name="Harff 2017">{{cite book|last=Harff|first=Barbara|year=2017|chapter=The Comparative Analysis of Mass Atrocities and Genocide|chapter-url=https://link.springer.com/content/pdf/10.1007%2F978-3-319-54463-2_12.pdf|editor-last=Gleditsch|editor-first=Nils Petter|title=R.J. Rummel: An Assessment of His Many Contributions|volume=37|series=SpringerBriefs on Pioneers in Science and Practice|location=New York City, New York|publisher=Springer|pages=111–129|doi=10.1007/978-3-319-54463-2_12|doi-access=free|isbn=978-3-319-54463-2|accessdate=30 August 2021}}</ref> In his last book, Rummel increased his estimate to over 272 million innocent, non-combatant civilians who were murdered by their own governments during the 20th century.<ref>{{cite book|last=Rummel|first=Rudolph|year=2007|title=The Blue Book of Freedom: Ending Famine, Poverty, Democide, and War|edition=paperback|location=Nashville, Tennessee|publisher=Cumberland House Publishing|page=11|isbn=9781581826203}}</ref> Rummel stated that his 272 million death estimate was his lower, more prudent figure, stating that it "could be over 400,000,000."<ref>{{cite book|last=Rummel|first=Rudolph|year=2007|title=The Blue Book of Freedom: Ending Famine, Poverty, Democide, and War|edition=paperback|location=Nashville, Tennessee|publisher=Cumberland House Publishing|page=75|isbn=9781581826203}}</ref> Rummel came to the conclusion that a democracy is the [[form of government]] which is least likely to kill its citizens because democracies do not tend to wage wars against each other.<ref name="Democracies FAQ"/> This latest view is a concept, which was further developed by Rummel, known as the [[democratic peace theory]].<ref name="About">{{cite web|url=http://www.hawaii.edu/powerkills/PERSONAL.HTM|title=About R.J. Rummel|website=Freedom, Democide, War|publisher=University of Hawaiʻi|accessdate=August 31, 2021|via=University of Hawaii System}}</ref>

Rummel was the author of twenty-four scholarly books, and he published his major results between 1975 and 1981 in ''Understanding Conflict and War'' (1975).<ref>{{cite book|last=Rummel|first=Rudolph|year=1975|url=https://www.hawaii.edu/powerkills/NOTE6.HTM|title=Understanding Conflict and War|location=Beverly Hills, California|publisher=SAGE Publications|isbn=9780803915572|accessdate=August 31, 2021|via=Freedom, Democide, War at the University of Hawaii System}}</ref> He spent the next fifteen years refining the underlying theory and testing it empirically on new data, against the empirical results of others, and on case studies. He summed up his research in ''[[Power Kills]]'' (1997).<ref>{{cite book|last=Rummel|first=Rudolph|year=2002|orig-year=1997|url=https://www.hawaii.edu/powerkills/NOTE6.HTM|title=Power Kills: Democracy as a Method of Nonviolence|location=New Brunswick, New Jersey|publisher=Transaction Publishers|isbn=9781412831703|accessdate=August 31, 2021|via=Freedom, Democide, War at the University of Hawaii System}}</ref> His other works include ''Lethal Politics: Soviet Genocides and Mass Murders 1917–1987'' (1990),<ref>{{cite book|last=Rummel|first=Rudolph|year=1990|url=http://www.hawaii.edu/powerkills/NOTE4.HTM|title=Lethal Politics: Soviet Genocide and Mass Murder Since 1917|edition=1st paperback|location=New Brunswick, New Jersey|publisher=Transaction Publishers|isbn=9781560008873|accessdate=August 31, 2021|via=Freedom, Democide, War at the University of Hawaiʻi System}}</ref> ''China's Bloody Century: Genocide and Mass Murder Since 1900'' (1991),<ref>{{cite book|last=Rummel|first=Rudolph|year=1991|url=http://www.hawaii.edu/powerkills/NOTE2.HTM|title=China's Bloody Century|edition=1st hardback|location=New Brunswick, New Jersey|publisher=Transaction Publishers|isbn=9780887384172|accessdate=August 31, 2021|via=Freedom, Democide, War at the University of Hawaiʻi System}}</ref> ''Democide: Nazi Genocide and Mass Murder'' (1992),<ref>{{cite book|last=Rummel|first=Rudolph|year=1992|url=http://www.hawaii.edu/powerkills/NOTE3.HTM|title=Democide: Nazi Genocide and Mass Murder|edition=1st|location=New Brunswick, New Jersey|publisher=Transaction Publishers|isbn=9781412821476|accessdate=August 31, 2021|via=Freedom, Democide, War at the University of Hawaiʻi System}}</ref> ''Death by Government: Genocide and Mass Murder Since 1900'' (1994),<ref name="Rummel 1994">{{cite book|last=Rummel|first=Rudolph|year=1994|url=http://www.hawaii.edu/powerkills/NOTE1.HTM|title=Death by Government: Genocide and Mass Murder Since 1900|edition=1st|location=New Brunswick, New Jersey|publisher=Transaction Publishers|isbn=9781560009276|accessdate=August 31, 2021|via=Freedom, Democide, War at the University of Hawaiʻi System}}</ref> and ''Statistics of Democide'' (1997).<ref>{{cite book|last=Rummel|first=Rudolph|year=2003|orig-year=1997|url=https://www.hawaii.edu/powerkills/NOTE5.HTM|title=Statistic of Democide: Genocide and Mass Murder Since 1900|edition=hardback|location=Charlottesville, Virginia|publisher=Center for National Security Law, School of Law, University of Virginia; Transaction Publishers, Rutgers University|isbn=9783825840105|accessdate=August 31, 2021|via=Freedom, Democide, War at the University of Hawaiʻi System}}</ref> Extracts, figures, and tables from the books, including his sources and details regarding the calculations, are available online on his website. Rummel also authored ''Applied Factor Analysis'' (1970)<ref>{{cite book|last=Rummel|first=Rudolph|year=1988|orig-year=1970|url=http://www.hawaii.edu/powerkills/UFA.HTM|title=Applied Factor Analysis|edition=1st|location=Evanston, Illinois|publisher=Northwestern University Press|isbn=9780810108240|accessdate=August 31, 2021|via=Freedom, Democide, War at University of Hawaiʻi System}}</ref> and ''Understanding Correlation'' (1976).<ref>{{cite book|last=Rummel|first=Rudolph|year=1976|url=http://www.hawaii.edu/powerkills/UC.HTM|title=Understanding Correlation|location=Honolulu, Hawaii|publisher=Department of Political Science, University of Hawaiʻi|accessdate=August 31, 2021|via=Freedom, Democide, War at University of Hawaiʻi System}}</ref>

==Early life, education, and death== Rummel was born in 1932 in [[Cleveland, Ohio]], to a family of German descent. A child of the [[Great Depression]] and [[World War II]], he attended local public schools. Rummel received his [[Bachelor of Arts]] and [[Master of Arts]] from the [[University of Hawaiʻi]] in 1959 and 1961, respectively, and his [[PhD]] in [[political science]] from [[Northwestern University]] in 1963.<ref name="About"/>

Rummel died on March 2, 2014, aged 81. He is survived by two daughters and one sister.<ref name="Obituary"/>

==Academic career and research== Rummel began his teaching career at [[Indiana University]]. In 1964, Rummel moved to [[Yale University]], and in 1966 returned to the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa, where he taught for the rest of his active career. In 1995, Rummel retired and became professor emeritus of political science. His research was supported by grants from the [[National Science Foundation]], [[DARPA]], and the United States Peace Research Institute. In addition to his books, Rummel was the author of more than 100 professional articles.<ref name="About"/>

Rummel was a member of the advisory council of the [[Victims of Communism Memorial Foundation]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.victimsofcommunism.org/about/nationaladvisors.php|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20110610171740/http://www.victimsofcommunism.org/about/nationaladvisors.php|archivedate=June 10, 2011|url-status=dead|title=National Advisory Council|publisher=Victims of Communism Memorial Foundation|accessdate=September 1, 2021}}</ref>

===Democide=== {{main|Democide}}   Rummel coined ''democide'', which he defined as "the murder of any person or people by a government, including [[genocide]], [[politicide]], and [[mass murder]]." Rummel further stated to "use the civil definition of [[murder]], where someone can be guilty of murder if they are responsible in a reckless and wanton way for the loss of life, as in incarcerating people in camps where they may soon die of [[malnutrition]], unattended [[disease]], and [[forced labor]], or deporting them into wastelands where they may die rapidly from exposure and disease."<ref name="Harff 1996"/>

In his work and research, Rummel distinguished between colonial, democratic, and authoritarian and totalitarian regimes,<ref>{{cite book|last=Rummel|first=Rudolph|year=1994|chapter-url=https://www.taylorfrancis.com/chapters/edit/10.4324/9781351294089-2/democide-totalitarian-states-mortacracies-megamurderers-rummel|chapter=Democide in Totalitarian States: Mortacracies and Megamurderers|editor-last1=Charny|editor-first1=Israel W.|editor-last2=Horowitz|editor-first2=Irving Louis|title=The Widening Circle of Genocide|pages=3–40 |edition=1st|publisher=Routledge|doi=10.4324/9781351294089-2|isbn=9781351294089|accessdate=November 25, 2021|via=Taylor & Francis}}</ref> and found a correlation with [[authoritarianism]] and [[totalitarianism]],<ref>{{cite journal|last1=Tago|first1=Atsushi|last2=Wayman|first2=Frank|date=January 2010|title=Explaining the Onset of Mass Killing, 1949–87|journal=Journal of Peace Research|location=Thousand Oaks, California|publisher=SAGE Publications|volume=47|issue=1|pages=3–13|doi=10.1177/0022343309342944|issn=0022-3433|jstor=25654524|s2cid=145155872|quote=Disagreeing with Rummel's finding that authoritarian and totalitarian government explains mass murder, Valentino (2004) argues that regime type does not matter; to Valentino the crucial thing is the motive for mass killing (Valentino, 2004: 70). He divides motive into the two categories of dispossessive mass killing (as in ethnic cleansing, colonial enlargement, or collectivization of agriculture) and coercive mass killing (as in counter-guerrilla, terrorist, and Axis imperialist conquests).|postscript=. At page 5.}}</ref> which he considered to be a significant causative factor in democides.<ref name="Harff 1996"/><ref name="Jacobs & Totten 2013, p. 168">{{cite book|editor-last1=Jacobs|editor-first1=Steven|editor-last2=Totten|editor-first2=Samuel|year=2013|orig-year=2002|title=Pioneers of Genocide Studies|edition=1st|location=London, England|publisher=Routledge|page=168|isbn=9781412849746}}</ref> Rummel posited that there is a relation between political power and democide. Political mass murder grows increasingly common as political power becomes unconstrained. At the other end of the scale, where power is diffuse, checked, and balanced, political violence is a rarity. For Rummel, "[t]he more power a regime has, the more likely people will be killed. This is a major reason for promoting freedom."<ref>{{cite magazine|url=https://www.hawaii.edu/powerkills/FREEMAN.INTERVIEW.HTM|title=An Exclusive Freeman Interview: Rudolph Rummel Talks About the Miracle of Liberty and Peace|magazine=The Freeman: Ideas on Liberty|issue=47|date=July 1997|accessdate=August 31, 2021|via=Freedom, Democide, War at the University of Hawaii System}}</ref> He wrote that "concentrated political power is the most dangerous thing on earth."<ref>{{cite book|editor-last1=Jacobs|editor-first1=Steven|editor-last2=Totten|editor-first2=Samuel|year=2013|orig-year=2002|title=Pioneers of Genocide Studies|location=London, England|publisher=Routledge|page=170|isbn=9781412849746}}</ref> This correlation is considered by Rummel to be more important than reliability of estimates.<ref name="Berger 2016, p. 98">{{cite book|last=Berger|first=Alan L.|year=2014|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=JT3xBQAAQBAJ|title=Post-Holocaust Jewish–Christian Dialogue: After the Flood, before the Rainbow|location=Lanham, Maryland|publisher=Lexington Books|page=98|isbn=9780739199015|accessdate=November 11, 2021|via=Google Books}}</ref>

===Democracy and peace=== After [[Dean Babst]], Rummel was one of the early researchers on the [[democratic peace theory]]. Rummel found that there were 205 wars between non-democracies, 166 wars between non-democracies and democracies, and no wars between democracies during the period between 1816 and 2005.<ref name="Ray 1998">{{cite journal|last=Ray|first=James Lee|date=June 1998|title=Does Democracy Cause Peace?|journal=Annual Review of Political Science|location=Palo Alto, California|publisher=Annual Reviews|volume=1|pages=27–46|doi=10.1146/annurev.polisci.1.1.27|doi-access=free}}</ref> The definition of democracy used by Rummel is "where those who hold power are elected in competitive elections with a secret ballot and wide franchise (loosely understood as including at least 2/3 of adult males); where there is freedom of speech, religion, and organization; and a constitutional framework of law to which the government is subordinate and that guarantees equal rights." In addition, it should be "well-established", stating that "enough time has passed since its inception for peace-sufficient democratic procedures to become accepted and democratic culture to settle in. Around three years seems to be enough for this."<ref name="Democracies FAQ"/>

Regarding [[war]], Rummel adopted the definition of a popular database, namely that war is a conflict causing at least 1,000 battle deaths. The peace is explained thus: "Start with the answer of the philosopher [[Immanuel Kant]] to why universalizing republics (democracy was a bad word for [[Classical Liberals]] in his time) would create a peaceful world. People would not support and vote for wars in which they and their loved ones could die and lose their property. But this is only partly correct, for the people can get aroused against nondemocracies and push their leaders toward war, as in the [[Spanish–American War]]. A deeper explanation is that where people are free, they create an exchange society of overlapping groups and multiple and crosschecking centers of power. In such a society a culture of negotiation, tolerance, and splitting differences develops. Moreover, free people develop an in-group orientation toward other such societies, a feeling of shared norms and ideals that militates against violence toward other free societies."<ref name="Democratic Peace FAQ">{{cite web|last=Rummel|first=Rudolph|date=February 20, 2005|url=http://www.hawaii.edu/powerkills/QA.V2.HTML|title=Democratic Peace Q&A Version 2.0|website=Freedom, Democide, War|publisher=University of Hawaiʻi|accessdate=August 31, 2021|via=University of Hawaii System}}</ref>

===Mortacide=== While democide requires governmental intention, Rummel was also interested in analyzing the effects of regimes that unintentionally, yet culpably, cause the deaths of their citizens through [[negligence]], incompetence or sheer indifference. An example is a regime in which [[corruption]] has become so pervasive and destructive of a people's [[welfare spending|welfare]] that it threatens their daily lives and reduces their [[life expectancy]]. Rummel termed deaths of citizens under such regimes as mortacide, and posited that democracies have the fewest of such deaths.<ref>{{cite web|last=Rummel|first=Rudolph|date=May 14, 2006|url=http://www.hawaii.edu/powerkills/DEFINING_THE_MORTACRACIES.HTM|title=Who were the Mortacracies of 2005?|website=Freedom, Democide, War|publisher=University of Hawaiʻi|accessdate=August 31, 2021|via=University of Hawaiʻi System}}</ref>

===Famine, economic growth, and happiness=== Rummel included [[famine]] in democide, if he deemed it the result of a deliberate policy, as he did for the [[Holodomor]]. Rummel stated that there have been no famines in democracies, deliberate or not, an argument first advanced by [[Amartya Sen]],<ref name="Democratic Peace FAQ"/> and he also posited that democracy is an important factor for economic growth and for raising [[living standards]].<ref>{{cite book|last=Rummel|first=Rudolph|year=2002|orig-year=1997|chapter-url=http://www.hawaii.edu/powerkills/WF.CHAP4.HTM|chapter=Freedom Promotes Wealth and Prosperity|url=https://www.hawaii.edu/powerkills/NOTE6.HTM|title=Power Kills: Democracy as a Method of Nonviolence|location=New Brunswick, New Jersey|publisher=Transaction Publishers|isbn=9781412831703|accessdate=August 31, 2021|via=Freedom, Democide, War at the University of Hawaii System}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|last=Rummel|first=Rudolph|date=February 20, 2006|url=https://freedomspeace.blogspot.com/2006/02/global-corruption-and-democracy-2006.html|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20070519174746/http://freedomspeace.blogspot.com/2006/02/global-corruption-and-democracy-2006.html|archivedate=May 19, 2007|url-status=dead|title=Global Corruption and Democracy 2006|website=Democratic Peace|accessdate=August 31, 2021}}</ref> He stated that research shows average happiness in a nation increases with more democracy.<ref>{{cite web|last=Rummel|first=Rudolph|date=February 6, 2006|url=https://freedomspeace.blogspot.com/2006/02/happiness-this-utilitarian-argument.html|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20061102103525/http://freedomspeace.blogspot.com/2006/02/happiness-this-utilitarian-argument.html|archivedate=November 2, 2006|url-status=dead|title=Happiness – This Utilitarian Argument For Freedom Is True|website=Democratic Peace|accessdate=August 31, 2021}}</ref> According to Rummel, the continuing increase in the number of democracies worldwide would lead to an end to wars and democide. He believed that goal might be achieved by the mid-21st century.<ref>{{cite web|last=Rummel|first=Rudolph|date=October 4, 2001|url=http://www.hawaii.edu/powerkills/DP.CLOCK.HTM|title=Democratic Peace Clock|website=Freedom, Democide, War|publisher=University of Hawaiʻi|accessdate=August 31, 2021|via=University of Hawaii System}}</ref>

==Political views== Rummel started out as a [[democratic socialist]] but later became an [[anti-communist]], a [[Libertarianism in the United States|libertarian]], and an advocate of [[economic liberalism]].<ref>{{cite book |last= Gleditsch |first=Nils Petter |year= 2017 |chapter= R.J. Rummel—A Multi-Faceted Scholar |editor-last= Gleditsch |editor-first= Nils Petter |title= R.J. Rummel: An Assessment of His Many Contributions |volume=37 |series= SpringerBriefs on Pioneers in Science and Practice |location= New York City |publisher= Springer |pages= 1–16 |doi= 10.1007/978-3-319-54463-2_1 |doi-access= free |isbn= 9783319544632}}</ref> Apart from being an outspoken critic of [[communism]] and [[Communist states]],{{refn|Rummel considered [[communism]] to be a significant causative factor in democides.<ref name="Harff 1996"/> According to Rummel, the killings committed by Communist states can best be explained as the result of the marriage between absolute power and the ideology of [[Marxism]], which he also considered to be [[Autocracy|absolutist]]. Rummel wrote that "communism was like a fanatical religion. It had its [[revealed text]] and its chief interpreters. It had its priests and their ritualistic prose with all the answers. It had a heaven, and the proper behavior to reach it. It had its appeal to faith. And it had its crusades against nonbelievers. What made this secular religion so utterly lethal was its seizure of all the state's instruments of force and coercion and their immediate use to destroy or control all independent sources of power, such as the church, the professions, private businesses, schools, and the family." Rummel said that Communists saw the construction of their [[utopia]] as "though a war on poverty, exploitation, imperialism and inequality. And for the greater good, as in a real war, people are killed. And, thus, this war for the communist utopia had its necessary enemy casualties, the clergy, bourgeoisie, capitalists, wreckers, counterrevolutionaries, rightists, tyrants, rich, landlords, and noncombatants that unfortunately got caught in the battle. In a war millions may die, but [[Just war theory|the cause may be well justified]], as in the defeat of [[Hitler]] and an utterly racist [[Nazism]]. And to many communists, the cause of a communist utopia was such as to justify all the deaths."<ref name="Jacobs & Totten 2013, p. 168"/>|group=nb}} Rummel criticized [[right-wing]] dictatorships and the democides that occurred under [[colonialism]], which also resulted in hundreds of million of deaths.<ref>{{cite book |last= Rummel |first= Rudolph |year=1994 |chapter-url= http://www.hawaii.edu/powerkills/DBG.CHAP3.HTM |chapter= Pre-20th Century Democide |title= Death by Government: Genocide and Mass Murder Since 1900 |edition=1st |location= New Brunswick, New Jersey |publisher= Transaction Publishers |isbn= 9781560009276 |via= Freedom, Democide, War at the University of Hawaii System |url= http://www.hawaii.edu/powerkills/NOTE1.HTM |access-date= August 31, 2021 |postscript= See also Cook on Stannard, p. 12. Rummel's quote and estimate from his ''Freedom, Democide, War'' website are about midway down the page after footnote 82. "Even if these figures are remotely true, then this still make this subjugation of the Americas one of the bloodier, centuries long, democides in world history."}}</ref> Rummel was a strong supporter of spreading [[liberal democracy]], although he did not support invading another country solely to replace a [[dictatorship]].<ref>{{cite web|last=Rummel|first=Rudolph|date=February 20, 2005|url=http://www.hawaii.edu/powerkills/QA.V2.HTML|title=Democratic Peace Q&A Version 2.0|website=Freedom, Democide, War|publisher=University of Hawaiʻi|accessdate=August 31, 2021|via=University of Hawaii System|postscript=In the ''Fostering Democracy'' section, Rummel writes: 'I am opposed to invading a country to democratize it.'}}</ref> Rummel posited that there is less foreign violence when states are more libertarian.<ref>{{cite journal|last=Rummel|first=Rudolph|date=March 1983|title=Libertarianism and International Violence|journal=Journal of Conflict Resolution|location=Thousand Oaks, California|publisher=SAGE Publications|volume=27|pages=27–71|doi=10.1177/0022002783027001002|s2cid=145801545}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal|last=Rummel|first=Rudolph|date=July 1984|title=Libertarianism, Violence within States, and the Polarity Principle|journal=The Journal of Comparative Politics|location=Thousand Oaks, California|publisher=SAGE Publications|volume=16|issue=4|pages=443–462|doi=10.2307/421949|jstor=421949|issn=0010-4159}}</ref>

Rummel was critical of past [[American foreign policy]] such as the [[Philippine War]] of 1899–1902, involvement in the 1900 [[Battle of Peking (1900)|Battle of Peking]], and the [[Strategic bombing during World War II|strategic bombing]] of civilians during [[World War II]],<ref>{{cite book|last=Rummel|first=Rudolph|year=2003|orig-year=1997|chapter-url=http://www.hawaii.edu/powerkills/SOD.CHAP13.HTM|chapter=Death by American Bombing and Other Democide|title=Statistic of Democide: Genocide and Mass Murder Since 1900|edition=hardback|location=Charlottesville, Virginia|publisher=Center for National Security Law, School of Law, University of Virginia; Transaction Publishers, Rutgers University|isbn=9783825840105|accessdate=August 31, 2021|via=Freedom, Democide, War at the University of Hawaii System}}</ref> and he also believed that the United States under the [[Democratic Party (United States)|Democratic Party]] US president [[Woodrow Wilson]] was a domestic tyranny.<ref>{{cite web|last=Rummel|first=Rudolph|date=July 18, 2009|url=https://rudyrummel.blogspot.com/2009/07/so-what-if-lie-it-is-politics-of-power.html|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20201119143307/http://rudyrummel.blogspot.com/2009/07/so-what-if-lie-it-is-politics-of-power.html|archivedate=November 19, 2020|url-status=live|title=So What If A Lie?—It Is The Politics of Power|website=A Freedomist View|accessdate=August 31, 2021}}</ref> Rummel strongly supported the [[war on terror]] and the [[Iraq War]] initiated by the [[Republican Party (United States)|Republican]] [[George W. Bush administration]], arguing that "the media [was] biased against freeing Iraqi from tyranny."<ref>{{cite web|last=Rummel|first=Rudolph|date=February 8, 2005|url=https://freedomspeace.blogspot.com/2005/02/censor-media.html|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20070608215540/http://freedomspeace.blogspot.com/2005/02/censor-media.html|archivedate=June 8, 2007|url-status=dead|title=Censor the Media|website=Democratic Peace|accessdate=August 31, 2021}}</ref> Rummel also proposed that an intergovernmental organization of all democracies outside of the [[United Nations]] deals with issues about which the United Nations cannot or would not act, in particular to further the promotion of peace, [[human security]], human rights, and democracy through what he termed "an Alliance of Democracies [which] can do much better."<ref>{{cite journal|last=Rummel|first=Rudolph|date=2001|url=http://www.hawaii.edu/powerkills/ALLIANCE.HTM|title=Eliminating Democide and War Through An Alliance of Democracies|journal=International Journal of World Peace|location=St. Paul, Minnesota|publisher=Paragon House|volume=XVIII|issue=3|pages=55–68 |jstor=20753317|accessdate=August 31, 2021|via=Freedom, Democide, War at the University of Hawaii System}}</ref> Rummel thought that Democratic United States senator [[Ted Kennedy]]'s [[opposition to the Vietnam War]] led to the state killings in Cambodia and Vietnam during the 1970s. Following the death of Kennedy, Rummel condemned the media reaction as too benign, and stated that "the post-war blood of millions is on Kennedy's hands."<ref>{{cite web|last=Rummel|first=Rudolph|date=August 29, 2009|url=https://rudyrummel.blogspot.com/2009/08/kennedy-love-dysfunction.html|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20210214231126/http://rudyrummel.blogspot.com/2009/08/kennedy-love-dysfunction.html|archivedate=February 14, 2021|url-status=live|title=The Kennedy Love Dysfunction|website=A Freedomist View|accessdate=August 31, 2021}}</ref>

Rummel was critical of [[Barack Obama]] and the Democratic Party, alleging that they were seeking to establish an authoritarian, one-party state.<ref>{{cite web|last=Rummel|first=Rudolph|date=July 5, 2009|url=https://rudyrummel.blogspot.com/2009/07/authoritarianism-on-way.html|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20210214231125/http://rudyrummel.blogspot.com/2009/07/authoritarianism-on-way.html|archivedate=February 14, 2021|url-status=live|title=Authoritarianism on the Way|website=A Freedomist View|accessdate=August 31, 2021}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|last=Rummel|first=Rudolph|date=July 7, 2009|url=https://rudyrummel.blogspot.com/2009/07/death-of-american-democracy.html|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20201119143114/http://rudyrummel.blogspot.com/2009/07/death-of-american-democracy.html|archivedate=November 19, 2020|url-status=live|title=The Death of American Democracy|website=A Freedomist View|accessdate=August 31, 2021}}</ref> He believed that [[global warming]] was "a [[Climate change denial#Conspiracy theories|scam for power]]" and opposed Obama's carbon-trading scheme.<ref>{{cite web|last=Rummel|first=Rudolph|date=July 4, 2009|url=https://rudyrummel.blogspot.com/2009/07/global-warming-is-scam-for-power.html|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20201112194620/http://rudyrummel.blogspot.com/2009/07/global-warming-is-scam-for-power.html|archivedate=November 12, 2020|url-status=live|title=Global Warming Is a Scam for Power|website=A Freedomist View|accessdate=August 31, 2021}}</ref> Rummel thought that Obama killed off a democratic peace that Democrat [[Bill Clinton]] and Republican [[George W. Bush]] had been pursuing.<ref>{{cite web|last=Rummel|first=Rudolph|date=September 15, 2009|url=https://rudyrummel.blogspot.com/2009/09/was-democratic-peace-killed-part-vi.html|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20201119143204/http://rudyrummel.blogspot.com/2009/09/was-democratic-peace-killed-part-vi.html|archivedate=November 19, 2020|url-status=live|title=Was The Democratic Peace Killed? Part VI, Death by Obama|website=A Freedomist View|accessdate=August 31, 2021}}</ref> Rummel posited that there was a leftist bias in some parts of the academic world that selectively focused on problems in nations with high political and [[economic freedom]] and ignored much worse problems in other nations. Related to this, he also criticized the [[tenure]] system.<ref>{{cite web|last=Rummel|first=Rudolph|date=February 21, 2005|url=https://freedomspeace.blogspot.com/2005/02/on-ward-churchill-and-academic.html|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20050514054100/http://freedomspeace.blogspot.com/2005/02/on-ward-churchill-and-academic.html|archivedate=May 14, 2005|url-status=dead|title=On Ward Churchill and Academic Leftimania|website=Democratic Peace|accessdate=August 31, 2021}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|last=Rummel|first=Rudolph|date=February 21, 2005|url=https://freedomspeace.blogspot.com/2005_02_01_freedomspeace_archive.html|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20070519174724/http://freedomspeace.blogspot.com/2005_02_01_freedomspeace_archive.html|archive-date=May 19, 2007|url-status=dead|title=Eliminate Tenure—Cure Leftimania|website=Democratic Peace|accessdate=August 31, 2021}}</ref>

==Reception== ===Democratic peace theory=== {{main|Democratic peace theory}} The democratic peace theory is one of the great controversies in [[political science]]{{citation needed|date=June 2022}} and one of the main challenges to [[realism in international relations]]. More than a hundred different researchers have published multiple articles in this field according to an incomplete bibliography until 2000,<ref>{{cite web|last=Rummel|first=Rudolph|date=September 19, 2009|url=http://www.hawaii.edu/powerkills/BIBLIO.HTML|title=Democratic Peace Bibliography Version 3.0|website=Freedom, Democide, War|publisher=University of Hawaiʻi|accessdate=August 31, 2021|via=University of Hawaiʻi System}}</ref> and from 2000 to August 2009.<ref>{{cite web|last=Rummel|first=Rudolph|date=August 31, 2009|url=http://www.hawaii.edu/powerkills/DP.BIBLIO.2009.HTML|title=Democratic Peace Bibliography Version August, 2009|website=Freedom, Democide, War|publisher=University of Hawaiʻi|accessdate=August 31, 2021|via=University of Hawaiʻi System}}</ref> Some critics respond that there have been exceptions to the theory. While it is generally statistically true that democides happen more in authoritarian than democratic regimes, there have been a few exceptions for democratic regimes, and some authoritarian regimes have not engaged in the megamurder category of democide.<ref name="Harff 2017, pp. 117–118">{{cite book|last=Harff|first=Barbara|year=2017|chapter=The Comparative Analysis of Mass Atrocities and Genocide|chapter-url=https://link.springer.com/content/pdf/10.1007%2F978-3-319-54463-2_12.pdf|editor-last=Gleditish|editor-first=N. P.|title=R.J. Rummel: An Assessment of His Many Contributions|volume=37|series=SpringerBriefs on Pioneers in Science and Practice|location=New York City, New York|publisher=Springer|pages=111–129|doi=10.1007/978-3-319-54463-2_12|doi-access=free|isbn=978-3-319-54463-2|accessdate=30 August 2021|quote=A larger theoretical question it raises is why do some totalitarian and authoritarian regimes commit megamurders while others do not? Saudi Arabia, for example, is one of the most authoritarian states in the contemporary world, yet state executions only number in the hundreds. Uzbekistan is a similar example. And on the democratic side, Sri Lanka is one clear case of a democratic regime that in 1989–90 authorized military squads to track down and summarily execute members and suspected supporters of the JVP (Peoples Liberation Party), which had begun its second rebellion that threatened to overthrow the state. Between 13,000 and 30,000 were killed in this politicide—not a megamurder, of course, but a challenge to Rudy's basic argument.|postscript=. At pp. 117–118.}}</ref> Rummel discussed some of these exceptions in his [[FAQ]],<ref name="Democratic Peace FAQ"/> and he has referred to books by other scholars such as ''[[Never at War]]''. [[Criticism of the democratic peace theory]] include data, definition, historical periods, limited consequences, methodology, microfoundations, and statistical significance criticism, that peace comes before democracy, and several studies fail to confirm democracies are less likely to wage war than autocracies if wars against non-democracies are included. [[Jeffrey Pugh]] summarized that those who dispute the theory often do so on grounds that it conflates correlation with causation, and the academic definitions of ''[[democracy]]'' and ''[[war]]'' can be manipulated so as to manufacture an artificial trend.<ref>{{cite web|last=Pugh|first=Jeffrey|date=April 2005|url=https://www.researchgate.net/publication/242284578|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20180215023444/https://www.researchgate.net/publication/242284578_Democratic_Peace_Theory_A_Review_and_Evaluation|archivedate=February 15, 2018|url-status=live|title=Democratic Peace Theory: A Review and Evaluation|work=CEMPROC Working Paper Series|accessdate=August 31, 2021|via=ResearchGate|postscript=. See also the [https://www.academia.edu/2409260/Democratic_Peace_Theory_A_Review_and_Evaluation PDF] version.}}</ref> Rummel's first work on democratic peace received little attention. His results were incorporated in a "gigantic philosophical scheme" of 33 propositions in a five-volume work. It was reviewed in 1992 as having "immoderate pretensions", and demonstrated Rummel's "unrelenting" [[economic liberalism]] and "extreme" views on defense policy. [[Nils Petter Gleditsch]] said that these elements may have distracted readers from Rummel's more conventionally acceptable propositions.<ref name="Gleditsch 1992">{{cite journal|last=Gleditsch|first=Nils Petter|date=November 1992|title=Democracy and Peace|journal=Journal of Peace Research|location=Thousand Oaks, California|publisher=SAGE Publications|volume=29|issue=4|pages=369–376|doi=10.1177/0022343392029004001|issn=0022-3433|jstor=425538|s2cid=110790206|postscript=. Quotations are from Gleditsch's ''Democracy and Peace'' (1995), a paper that warmly defends the existence of democratic peace, and asserts that it, and the difficulty distant states have in waging war against each other, fully account for the phenomena.}}</ref>

Rummel's version of the democratic peace theory has some distinctive features disputed by some other researchers who support the existence and explanatory power of the theory. Rummel's early research found that democracies are less warlike, even against non-democracies; other researchers hold only that democracies are far less warlike with one another. Rummel held that democracies properly defined never go to war with each other, and added that this is an "absolute or (point) claim." Other researchers such as Stuart A. Bremer found that it is a chance or [[stochastic]] matter;<ref>{{cite journal|last=Bremer|first=Stuart A.|date=June 1992|title=Dangerous Dyads: Conditions Affecting the Likelihood of Interstate War, 1816–1965|location=Thousand Oaks, California|publisher=SAGE Publications|journal=Journal of Conflict Resolution|volume=36|issue=2|pages=309–341|doi=10.1177/0022002792036002005|jstor=174478|s2cid=144107474}}</ref> in this sense, Rummel's version of the democratic peace theory was [[deterministic]].<ref name="Gleditsch 1992"/> A review by James Lee Ray cited several other studies finding that the increase in the risk of war in democratizing countries happens only if many or most of the surrounding nations are undemocratic.<ref name="Ray 1998"/> If wars between young democracies are included in the analysis, several studies and reviews still find enough evidence supporting the stronger claim that all democracies, whether young or established, go into war with one another less frequently, while some do not.<ref>{{cite journal|last1=Gelpi|first1=Cristopher F.|last2=Griesdrorf|first2=Michael|date=September 2001|url=http://www.duke.edu/~gelpi/democratic.winners.pdf|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20050213094202/http://www.duke.edu/~gelpi/democratic.winners.pdf|archivedate=February 13, 2005|url-status=dead|title=Winners or Losers? Democracies in International Crisis, 1918–94|journal=American Political Science Review|location=Washington, D.C.|publisher=American Political Science Association|volume=95|issue=3|pages=633–647|doi=10.1017/S0003055401003148|jstor=3118238|s2cid=146346368 |accessdate=September 1, 2021|via=Duke University}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|last=Wayman|first=Frank W.|date=April 6, 2002|url=http://www.isanet.org/noarchive/wayman.html|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20030313202423/http://www.isanet.org/noarchive/wayman.html|archivedate=March 13, 2003|url-status=dead|title=Incidence of Militarized Disputes Between Liberal States, 1816–1992|publisher=International Studies Association|accessdate=September 1, 2021}}</ref><ref>{{cite conference|last1=Müller|first1=Harald|last2=Wolff|first2=Jonas|date=August 9, 2004|url=http://www.sgir.org/conference2004/papers/Mueller%20Wolff%20-%20Dyadic%20Democratic%20Peace%20Strikes%20Back.pdf|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20060625034003/http://www.sgir.org/conference2004/papers/Mueller%20Wolff%20-%20Dyadic%20Democratic%20Peace%20Strikes%20Back.pdf|archive-date=June 25, 2006|url-status=dead|title=Dyadic Democratic Peace Strikes Back: Reconstructing the Social Constructivist Approach After the Monadic Renaissance|conference=The 5th Pan-European International Relations|accessdate=September 1, 2021|via=ECPR Standing Group on International Relations}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal|last=Owen IV|first=John M.|date=November–December 2005|url=https://www.foreignaffairs.com/reviews/review-essay/2005-11-01/iraq-and-democratic-peace|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20210308204009/https://www.foreignaffairs.com/reviews/review-essay/2005-11-01/iraq-and-democratic-peace|archivedate=March 8, 2021|url-status=live|title=Iraq and the Democratic Peace|journal=Foreign Affairs|location=New York City, New York|publisher=Council on Foreign Relations|volume=84|issue=6|pages=122–127|doi=10.2307/20031781|jstor=20031781|accessdate=September 1, 2021|postscript=. See [https://web.archive.org/web/20051221155722/http://www.foreignaffairs.org/20051101fareviewessay84611/john-m-owen-iv/iraq-and-the-democratic-peace.html full article] at ''Foreign Affairs''.|url-access=subscription}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal|last=Baush|first=Andrew W.|date=May 2015|url=https://as.nyu.edu/content/dam/nyu-as/politics/documents/Bausch-DemocracyWarEffortSystemicDemocraticPeace.pdf|title=Democracy, War Effort, and the Systemic Democratic Peace|journal=Journal of Peace Research|location=Thousand Oaks, California|publisher=SAGE Publications|volume=52|issue=4|pages=435–447|doi=10.1177/0022343314552808|s2cid=108804763 |accessdate=August 31, 2021|via=New York University}}</ref>

Rummel did not always apply his definition of democracy to governments under discussion, and he did not always clarify when he did not apply it. The opening paragraphs of an appendix from his book ''Power Kills''<ref name="Democracies FAQ"/> adopt Michael Doyle's lists of liberal democracies for 1776–1800 and 1800–1850. Doyle used a much looser definition, namely the secret ballot that was first adopted by [[Tasmania]] in 1856, while Belgium had barely 10% adult male suffrage before 1894.<ref>{{cite journal|last=Doyle|first=Michael W.|date=Summer 1983|title=Kant, Liberal Legacies, and Foreign Affairs|journal=Philosophy & Public Affairs|location=Hoboken, New Jersey|publisher=John Wiley & Sons|volume=12|issue=3|pages=205–235|issn=1088-4963|jstor=2265298}}</ref>

===Factor analysis=== {{see also|Global databases of mass killings}} Critical reviews of Rummel's estimates have focused on two aspects, namely his choice of data sources and his statistical approach. Historical sources Rummel based his estimates upon can rarely serve as sources of reliable figures.<ref name="Harff 1996"/><ref name="Karlsson & Schoenhals 2008"/> The statistical approach Rummel used to analyze big sets of diverse estimates may lead to dilution of useful data with noisy ones.<ref name="Harff 1996"/><ref name="Dulić 2004"/> Rummel and other [[genocide scholars]] are focused primarily on establishing patterns and testing various theoretical explanations of [[genocide]]s and [[mass killing]]s. In their work, as they are dealing with large data sets that describe mass mortality events globally, they have to rely on selective data provided by country experts, so precise estimates are neither a required nor expected result of their work.<ref name="Harff 2017"/> [[Yehuda Bauer]], noted scholar of [[the Holocaust]] who commented that [[democide]] is more appropriate to describe mass atrocities perpetrated by state actors than genocide,<ref>{{cite book|last=Bauer|first=Yehuda|year=2001|url=https://archive.nytimes.com/www.nytimes.com/books/first/b/bauer-rethinking.html|title=Rethinking the Holocaust|location=New Haven, Connecticut|publisher=Yale University Press|isbn=9780300093001|accessdate=November 11, 2021|via=The New York Times Web Archive}}</ref> wrote in ''Rethinking the Holocaust'': "Rummel has been criticized for exaggerating the losses. Even if the criticisms were valid, a figure lower by 10 or 20 or even 30 percent would make absolutely no difference to the general conclusions that Rummel draws."<ref name="Berger 2016, p. 98"/>

Rummel's works have been criticized for establishing estimates on [[hearsay]] and unverifiable overtly high death estimates from highly biased authors. An example of this is in the ''Tito's Slaughterhouse'' chapter of ''Statistics of Democide'', where Rummel quotes estimates for the democide record of [[Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia|Tito's Yugoslavia]] from authors who were sympathetic towards the [[Independent State of Croatia]] (NDH) and who attempted to downplay or deny the crimes of [[Ustaše]] in [[the Holocaust in the Independent State of Croatia]], an example of those authors being [[Ivo Omrčanin]], a former NDH official in foreign ministry and an espouser of fascist ideals.<ref name="Dulić 2004"/>{{rp|87–88}}

==Awards and nominations== In 1999, Rummel was awarded the [[Susan Strange Award]] of the [[International Studies Association]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.isanet.org/awards-grants/award-recipients.html|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20130208080713/http://www.isanet.org/awards-grants/award-recipients.html|archivedate=February 8, 2013|url-status=dead|title=Award Recipients|publisher=International Studies Association|accessdate=September 1, 2021}}</ref> This award recognizes a person "whose singular intellect, assertiveness, and insight most challenge conventional wisdom and intellectual and organizational complacency in the international studies community."<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.isanet.org/awards-grants/strange.html|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20130208080254/http://www.isanet.org/awards-grants/strange.html|archivedate=February 8, 2013|url-status=dead|title=Susan Strange Award|publisher=International Studies Association|accessdate=September 1, 2021}}</ref> In 2003, Rummel was given The Lifetime Achievement Award from the Conflict Processes Organized Section of the [[American Political Science Association]] for "scholarly contributions that have fundamentally improved the study of conflict processes."<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.apsanet.org/sections/sectionAwardDetail.cfm?award=SEC07ALAA|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20130510055527/http://www.apsanet.org/sections/sectionAwardDetail.cfm?award=SEC07ALAA|archivedate=May 10, 2013|url-status=dead|title=Conflict Processes Organized Section Lifetime Achievement Award Recipients|publisher=American Political Science Association|accessdate=September 1, 2021}}</ref>

Rummel used to publicly claim that he was a finalist for the [[Nobel Peace Prize]], based on an [[Associated Press]] report reprinted in his local paper about an alleged Nobel short list of 117 names.<ref name="About"/> Although he retracted the claim, it still appeared in one of his books.<ref>{{cite web|last=Rummel|first=Rudolph|date=July 30, 2005|url=http://www.hawaii.edu/powerkills/NA.SUPPLEMENT.PDF|title=Praise for books by Nobel Peace Prize finalist R. J. Rummel|accessdate=August 31, 2021|via=Freedom, Democide, War at the University of Hawaiʻi System}}</ref> Rummel was nominated multiple times for the Nobel Peace Prize by [[Per Ahlmark]] but no shortlist has been made public.<ref>{{cite web|last=Rummel|first=Rudolph|date=September 26, 2005|url=http://www.hawaii.edu/powerkills/NPP.FINALIST.HTM|title=A necessary footnote|website=Freedom, Democide, War|publisher=University of Hawaiʻi|accessdate=August 31, 2021|via=University of Hawaiʻi System}}</ref>

==''Never Again Series''{{anchor|Fictional oeuvre}}== Rummel wrote the '''''Never Again Series''''' of [[alternative-history]] novels. According to the series' website, ''Never Again'' is "a what-if, alternative history" in which "two lovers are sent back in time to 1906 with modern weapons and 38 billion 1906 dollars" in order to prevent the rise of [[totalitarianism]] and the outbreak of [[world war]]s.<ref name="Never Again Series">{{cite web|url=http://www.hawaii.edu/powerkills/NH.HTM|title=Freedom, Democide, War: An Alternative History Series|website=Freedom, Democide, War|publisher=University of Hawaiʻi|accessdate=August 31, 2021|via=University of Hawaii System}}</ref>{{refn|Rummel wrote: "What if there were a solution to war and genocide? What if a secret society sent back to 1906 two lovers, Joy Phim, a gorgeous warrior, and John Banks, a pacifist professor of history, and gave them the incredible wealth and weapons necessary to create a peaceful alternative universe—one that never experienced the horrors of world war, the Holocaust, and the other atrocities of the twentieth century? And what if, at great personal cost, they succeed too well and create a peaceful world of complacent democracies?

In Book 2, the clock is turned back to their arrival in 1906. They receive a message from the future of the universe they will create – Islamic fundamentalists have attacked the unarmed democracies with nuclear weapons and enslaved them. It is now up to these lovers to prevent this horrible future.<ref name="Never Again Series"/>|group=nb}}

==Published works== Most books and articles by Rummel are available for free download at his ''Freedom, Democide, War'' website, including those not listed here.<ref name="Documents List">{{cite web|url=http://www.hawaii.edu/powerkills/LIST.HTM|title=List of Documents on Site|website=Freedom, Democide, War|publisher=University of Hawaiʻi|accessdate=September 1, 2021|via=University of Hawaii System}}</ref><ref name="Documents Thematic List">{{cite web|url=http://www.hawaii.edu/powerkills/LIST2.HTM|title=Thematic List of Documents on Site|website=Freedom, Democide, War|publisher=University of Hawaiʻi|accessdate=September 1, 2021|via=University of Hawaii System}}</ref>

===Books=== *''[http://www.hawaii.edu/powerkills/FREEDOM%27S.PRINCIPLES.HTM Dimensions of Nations]'', SAGE Publications, 1972 *[[Jonathan Wilkenfeld|Wilkenfeld, J.]], ed. ''Conflict Behavior & Linkage Politics'' (contributor), David McKay, 1973 *''Peace Endangered: Reality of Détente'', SAGE Publications, 1976 *''Understanding Conflict and War'', John Wiley & Sons, 1976 *''Conflict in Perspective (Understanding Conflict and War)'', SAGE Publications, 1977 *''Field Theory Evolving'', SAGE Publications, 1977 *''Der gefährdete Frieden. Die militärische Überlegenheit der UdSSR'' ("Endangered Peace. The Military Superiority of the USSR"), München, 1977 *''National Attitudes and Behaviors'' (with G. Omen, S. W. Rhee, and P. Sybinsky), SAGE Publications, 1979 *''In the Minds of Men. Principles Toward Understanding and Waging Peace'', Sogang University Press, 1984 * ''Applied Factor Analysis'', Northwestern University Press, 1988 *''[[Lethal Politics: Soviet Genocide and Mass Murder since 1917]]'', Transaction Publishers, 1990 *''China's Bloody Century: Genocide and Mass Murder Since 1900'', Transaction Publishers, 1991 *''The Conflict Helix: Principles & Practices of Interpersonal, Social & International Conflict & Cooperation'', Transaction Publishers, 1991 *''Democide: Nazi Genocide and Mass Murder'', Transaction Publishers, 1992 * ''Death by Government'', Transaction Publishers, 1997 *''Statistics of Democide: Genocide and Mass Murder Since 1900'', Lit Verlag, 1999 *''Power Kills: Democracy as a Method of Nonviolence'', Transaction Publishers, 2002 *''Never Again'' (series) # ''[https://www.hawaii.edu/powerkills/NA.BK1.PDF War and Democide]'', Llumina Press, 2004 # ''[https://www.hawaii.edu/powerkills/NA.BK2.PDF Nuclear Holocaust]'', Llumina Press, 2004 # ''[https://www.hawaii.edu/powerkills/NA.BK3.PDF Reset]'', Llumina Press, 2004 # ''[https://www.hawaii.edu/powerkills/NA.BK4.PDF Red Terror]'', Llumina Press, 2004 # ''[https://www.hawaii.edu/powerkills/NA.BK5.PDF Genocide]'', Llumina Press, 2005 # ''[https://www.hawaii.edu/powerkills/NA.BK6.PDF Never Again?]'', Llumina Press, 2005 :: ''[http://www.hawaii.edu/powerkills/NA.SUPPLEMENT.PDF Never Again: Ending War, Democide, & Famine Through Democratic Freedom]'', nonfiction supplement, Llumina Press, 2005 * ''The Blue Book of Freedom: Ending Famine, Poverty, Democide, and War'', Cumberland House Publishing, 2007

===Scholarly articles=== Rummel had approximately 100 publications in peer-reviewed journals, including:<ref name="Documents List"/><ref name="Documents Thematic List"/> *''International Journal on World Peace'', October–December 1986, '''III''' (4), contributor *''Journal of International Relations'', Spring 1978, '''3''' (1), contributor *''Reason'', July 1977, '''9''' (3), "The Problem of Defense", contributor

==See also== *[[Casualty recording]] *[[Stéphane Courtois]]

== Notes == {{reflist|group=nb}}

==References== {{reflist|colwidth=30em}}

==Bibliography== *{{cite book|editor-last=Gleditsch|editor-first=Nils Petter|title=R.J. Rummel: An Assessment of His Many Contributions|chapter=R.J. Rummel—A Multi-faceted Scholar |volume=37|series=SpringerBriefs on Pioneers in Science and Practice|date=2017 |location=New York City, New York|publisher=Springer|pages=1–16|doi=10.1007/978-3-319-54463-2_1|doi-access=free|isbn=9783319544632}} *{{cite book|last=Peterson|first=H. C.|year=2017|chapter=Regime Type Matters|editor-last=Gleditsch|editor-first=Nils Petter|title=R.J. Rummel: An Assessment of His Many Contributions|volume=37|series=SpringerBriefs on Pioneers in Science and Practice|location=New York City, New York|publisher=Springer|pages=97–106|doi=10.1007/978-3-319-54463-2_10|doi-access=free|isbn=9783319544632}}

==Further reading== *{{cite encyclopedia|last=Chan|first=Steve|date=March 2010|title=Progress in the Democratic Peace Research Agenda|encyclopedia=Oxford Research Encyclopedia of International Studies|location=Oxford, England|publisher=Oxford University Press|volume=|issue=|pages=|doi=10.1093/acrefore/9780190846626.013.280}} *{{cite journal|last=Gleditsch|first=Nils Petter|date=November 1992|title=Democracy and Peace|journal=Journal of Peace Research|location=Thousand Oaks, California|publisher=SAGE Publications|volume=29|issue=4|pages=369–376|doi=10.1177/0022343392029004001|jstor=425538|s2cid=110790206 }} *{{cite journal|last=Gleditsch|first=Nils Petter|date=December 1995|title=Democracy and the Future of European Peace|journal=European Journal of International Relations|location=Thousand Oaks, California|publisher=SAGE Publications|volume=1|issue=4|pages=539–571|doi=10.1177/1354066195001004007|s2cid=146572778 }} *{{cite journal|last1=Gleditsch|first1=Nils Petter|last2=Hegre|first2=Havard|date=April 1997|title=Peace and Democracy: Three Levels of Analysis|journal=Journal of Conflict Resolution|location=Thousand Oaks, California|publisher=SAGE Publications|volume=41|issue=2|pages=283–310|doi=10.1177/0022002797041002004|jstor=174374|s2cid=152973748 }} *{{cite book|last=Gleditsch|first=Nils Petter|date=July 2015|chapter=Democracy and Peace|editor-last=Gleditsch|editor-first=Nils Petter|title=Pioneer in the Analysis of War and Peace|volume=29|series=SpringerBriefs on Pioneers in Science and Practice|location=New York City, New York|publisher=Springer|pages=61–70|doi=10.1007/978-3-319-03820-9_4|doi-access=free|isbn=9783319038193}} *{{cite journal|last=Górka|first=Marek|date=2017|title=Polityka antyterrorystyczna jako dylemat demokracji liberalnej|trans-title=Anti-Terrorism Policy As a Dilemma of Liberal Democracy|journal=Czasopisma Marszalek|language=pl|publisher=Politechnika Koszalińska|location=Koszalin, Poland|volume=16|issue=|pages=62–89|doi=10.15804/siip201704|s2cid=198726255 |doi-access=free}}

==External links== {{Wikiquote}} *[https://www.springer.com/kr/book/9783319544625 Collection of essays on Rummel] – edited by [[Nils Petter Gleditsch]] (2017) *[https://www.hawaii.edu/powerkills/Z.BLOG.ARCHIVE.HTM Archive Blog Topical Outline] – topic and theme index to Rummel's blog posts *[https://web.archive.org/web/20050510101146/http://freedomspeace.blogspot.com/2004_12_05_freedomspeace_archive.html Freedom's Peace archive] – Rummel's blog (2004–2008) *[https://web.archive.org/web/20131022101146/http://rudyrummel.blogspot.com/2009/06/why-this-freedomists-view.html Why This "A freedomists View" Blog?] – Rummel's blog (2008–2013) *[https://web.archive.org/web/20081216130635/http://democraticpeace.wordpress.com:80/2008/11/23/why-a-new-%E2%80%9Cdemocratic-peace%E2%80%9D-blog/ Why A New "Democratic Peace" Blog?] – Rummel's blog (2008–2013) *[http://www.scottmanning.com/content/communist-body-count/ Communist Body Count] – chart of Rummel's estimates *[http://www.scottmanning.com/content/nazi-body-count/ Nazi Body Count] – chart of Rummel's estimates

{{DEFAULTSORT:Rummel, R. J.}} [[Category:1932 births]] [[Category:2014 deaths]] [[Category:American people of German descent]] [[Category:American libertarians]] [[Category:American anti-communists]] [[Category:American male non-fiction writers]] [[Category:American political scientists]] [[Category:American political writers]] [[Category:Indiana University faculty]] [[Category:Northwestern University alumni]] [[Category:University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa alumni]] [[Category:University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa faculty]] [[Category:Yale University faculty]]