Resurgent totalitarianism, charismatic dictatorship, and the rise of socio-political extremism in the age of globalisation and multiculturalism: an escalating human rights crisis

ABSTRACT

Globally, there are certain tendencies in a significant number of regimes today that indicate a shift away from liberal democracy, the rule of law, equality, and justice. This threatens international human rights, advancing towards totalitarianism. The technologies available to totalitarian regimes today for control, intimidation, indoctrination, and mass manipulation are far more advanced than their earlier counterparts. It is typically led by a charismatic dictator and a single political party that uses powerful narratives of blame, hate speech, instilling fear, and scapegoating to seise or maintain power at any cost. That being so, amid contemporary global shifts to totalitarianism, human rights abuses persist worldwide despite the ratification of so many international treaties. This piece engages in critically analysing the situation faced by the targeted group of citizens who live under the rules of resurgent totalitarian states. The study further examines the reasons why certain countries and communities get along well with their counterparts while others appear to be breeding grounds, what role governments, politicians, and leaders play in the development and support of group divisions and ideologies of social difference, and how these ideologies lead to the creation of a destructive culture and infrastructure on the path to large-scale bloodshed.

KEYWORDS:

• Political violence
• atrocity crime
• united nations security council
• international criminal law
• international criminal court
• responsibility to protect‌

Acknowledgements

Professor Damien Short, from the University of London in the United Kingdom, has been a precious resource for the author, who has been greatly thankful for his time, expertise, and insightful guidance every step of the way through the progression of drafting this manuscript. The author also expresses gratitude to all the esteemed anonymous reviewers engaged by the International Journal of Human Rights at various stages of the peer-review process for their significant observations, critical comments, and some novel ideas provided during the revision processes of the previous iterations of the manuscript. As such, the author and the article have both benefited greatly from the roles and contributions of the aforementioned academics.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes

1 M. U. H. A. Sikander, ‘True Religion as the Basis for Peace and Inter-Community Solidarity’, International Journal of Religious Thoughts 2, no. 1 (2012): 87–95, at 87.

2 Ibid., p. 88.

3 Md. Intekhab Hossain, ‘Global Citizens, Civic Responsibility, and Intercultural Communication in a Rapidly Globalising Multicultural World: Community Revitalisation and Reflective Practise’, Ethnopolitics, (advanced article), (2023): 1–28, at 1, doi:10.1080/17449057.2023.2216982

4 Ibid., p. 22.

5 Frans Viljoen, ‘International Human Rights Law: A Short History’, n.d., n.p., paras. 4–5, https://www.un.org/en/chronicle/article/international-human-rights-law-short-history (accessed July 18, 2023).

6 David Cingranelli, Skip Mark, Mark Gibney, Peter Haschke, Reed Wood, and Daniel Arnon, ‘Human Rights Violations and Violent Internal Conflict’, Social Sciences 8, no. 2:41 (2019): 1–33, at 2, https://doi.org/10.3390/socsci8020041

7 Zeid Ra’ad Al Hussein, ‘International Conference on the 25th anniversary of the World Conference on Human Rights’, Vienna Declaration, Statements, Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, United Nations, 22 May 2018, n.p., https://www.ohchr.org/en/statements/2018/05/international-conference-25th-anniversary-world-conference-human-rights?LangID=E&NewsID=23115 (accessed August 3, 2023).

8 Philip Alston, ‘The Populist Challenge to Human Rights’, Journal of Human Rights Practice 9, no. 1 (2017): 1–15, at 1–2,

9 Cingranelli et al., ‘Human Rights Violations’, at 2–3.

10 Maruf Billah, ‘Prosecuting Crimes against Humanity and Genocide at the International Crimes Tribunal Bangladesh: An Approach to International Criminal Law Standards’, Laws 10, no. 4:82 (2021): 1–34, at 7, https://doi.org/10.3390/laws10040082

11 Cingranelli et al., ‘Human Rights Violations’, at 7.

12 Ibid., p. 3.

13 Kenneth Roth, ‘China’s Global Threat to Human Rights’, Human Rights Watch World Report 2020, 1-335, at 2, https://www.hrw.org/sites/default/files/world_report_download/hrw_world_report_2020_0.pdf. (accessed August 3, 2023).

14 Salvador Santino F. Regilme Jr., ‘The Global Human Rights Regime: Risks and Contestations’, in Human Rights at Risk: Global Governance, American Power, and the Future of Dignity, eds. Salvador Santino F. Regilme Jr. & Irene Hadiprayitno (New Brunswick: Rutgers University Press, 2022), 3–21, at 4.

15 Ibid.

16 Salvador Santino F. Regilme Jr., ‘Contested spaces of illiberal and authoritarian politics: Human rights and democracy in crisis’, Political Geography 89, (2021): 1–12, at 1, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.polgeo.2021.102427

17 Regilme Jr., ‘The Global Human Rights Regime’, p. 11.

18 Anna Lührmann and Staffan I. Lindberg, ‘A Third Wave of Autocratization Is Here: What Is New About It?’, Democratization 26, no. 7 (2019): 1095–1113, at 1095, doi:10.1080/13510347.2019.1582029

19 Regilme, ‘The Global Human Rights Regime’, at 13.

20 Ibid., p. 4.

21 Sarah Repucci and Amy Slipowitz, ‘The Global Expansion of Authoritarian Rule’, Freedom in the World 2022, Highlights from Freedom House's Annual Report on Political Rights and Civil Liberties, 2022: 1–34, at 1, https://freedomhouse.org/sites/default/files/2022-02/FIW_2022_PDF_Booklet_Digital_Final_Web.pdf (accessed July 20, 2023).

22 Isabel David, ‘Rethinking Liberal Democracy: Prelude to Totalitarianism’, Journal of Liberty and International Affairs 1, no. 1 (2015): 1-10, at 1, https://e-jlia.com/index.php/jlia/article/view/7

23 Sheldon S. Wolin, ‘Inverted Totalitarianism: A Preface’, Kettering Review (2010): 30–36, at 31, https://www.kettering.org/inverted-totalitarianism-preface (accessed July 18, 2023).

24 Repucci and Slipowitz, ‘The Global Expansion of Authoritarian Rule’, at 2.

25 Ibid., p. 1.

26 Ibid.

27 Ibid.

28 Ibid., pp. 1–2.

29 Ibid., p. 2.

30 Cingranelli et al., ‘Human Rights Violations’, at 5.

31 Repucci and Slipowitz, ‘The Global Expansion of Authoritarian Rule’, at 27.

32 Regilme, ‘The Global Human Rights Regime’, at 5.

33 Comparing Totalitarianism and Democracy, n.d., 1-3, at 2, https://digitalbell-bucket.s3.amazonaws.com/0E510928-5056-907D-8D2E-4910A689F649.pdf (accessed July 7, 2023).

34 Democracy versus Totalitarianism, Study Task Card 9, n.d., 1–2, at 1, https://www.ruleoflaw.org.au/wp-content/uploads/Study-Task-Democracy-vs-Totalitarianism.pdf (accessed July 7, 2023).

35 Comparing Totalitarianism and Democracy, at 2.

36 Totalitarianism, Case Study: Stalinist Russia, Chapter 14, n.d., 440–447, at 440, https://www.cbsd.org/cms/lib010/PA01916442/Centricity/Domain/1864/Totalitarianism%20Case%20Study_Stalinist%20Russia.pdf (accessed July 12, 2023).

37 Comparing Totalitarianism and Democracy, at 1.

38 Democracy versus Totalitarianism, at 2.

39 Totalitarianism, at 440–42.

40 Comparing Totalitarianism and Democracy, at 1–2.

41 Totalitarianism, at 440–42.

42 Ibid., p. 442.

43 Democracy versus Totalitarianism, at 2.

44 Totalitarianism, at 442.

45 Comparing Totalitarianism and Democracy, at 1.

46 Totalitarianism and the Rise of the Dictators (1920s – 1930s), FCPS World II SOL Standards: WHII 11 FCPS HS, Social Studies, (2014): 1-2, at 1, https://www.lcps.org/cms/lib4/VA01000195/Centricity/Domain/10599/Interwar%20Totalitarian%20Rulers.pdf (accessed July 19, 2023).

47 Totalitarianism, at 440–43.

48 Ibid., p. 440.

49 Comparing Totalitarianism and Democracy, at 1.

50 Democracy versus Totalitarianism, at 2.

51 Roza Sh. Akhmadieva, et al., ‘Student Attitude to Intercultural Communication and Intercultural Interaction in Social Networks’, Contemporary Educational Technology 11, no. 1 (2020): 21–29, at 22.

52 Xia Guang, ‘Culture in the context of Globalization: a sociological interpretation’, Caligrama 3, no. 2 (2007): 1–16, at 8–9, https://www.revistas.usp.br/caligrama/article/view/65465/68083 (accessed May 1, 2022).

53 Zakiyuddin Baidhawy, ‘Building Harmony and Peace Through Multiculturalist Theology-Based Religious Education: An Alternative for Contemporary Indonesia’, British Journal of Religious Education 29, no. 1 (2007): 1–18, at 3, https://doi.org/10.1080/01416200601037478

54 Ibid.

55 Umi Sumbulah and Agus Purnomo, ‘Building Social and Religious Harmony for Students in Indonesia: Study of Interfaith Harmony Forum’s Role of Malang, East Java’, (paper presented at the 1st international conference on Recent Innovations, Jakarta, September 26-28, 2018), in Proceedings of the 1st International Conference on Recent Innovations – ICRI, ISBN 978-989-758-458-9, pp. 219–228, at 219, doi:10.5220/0009924302190228

56 Baidhawy, ‘Building Harmony and Peace’, at 7.

57 Elena B. Grishaeva, ‘Multiculturalism as a Central Concept of Multiethnic and Polycultural Society Studies’, Journal of Siberian Federal University, Humanities & Social Sciences 5, no. 7, (2012): 916–922, at 920.

58 William A. Schabas, Preventing Genocide and Mass Killing: The Challenge for the United Nations (London: Minority Rights Group International, 2006), pp. 1–34, at 6, https://minorityrights.org/wp-content/uploads/old-site-downloads/download-157-Preventing-Genocide-and-Mass-Killing-The-Challenge-for-the-United-Nations.pdf (accessed April 10, 2023).

59 Ravichandran Moorthy, et al., ‘Sustainable Societal Peace through the Integration of Bioethics Principles and Value-Based Education’, Sustainability 13, 3266 (2021): 1–18, at 6, https://doi.org/10.3390/su13063266

60 Ibid.

61 Ibid.

62 Jaco Beyers, ‘Religion and culture: Revisiting a close relative’, HTS Teologiese Studies/Theological Studies 73, no. 1 (2017): 1–9, at 4, https://doi.org/10.4102/hts.v73i1.3864

63 Dorjie Banban, ‘Harmony in diversity: an empirical study of harmonious co-existence in the multi-ethnic culture of Qinghai’, International Journal of Anthropology and Ethnology 2, no. 1 (2018): 1–23, at 1, https://doi.org/10.1186/s41257-018-0010-6

64 Sumbulah and Purnomo, ‘Building Social and Religious Harmony’, at 222.

65 Michael Declan Dunn, ed., Remember.org-The Holocaust History-A People's and Survivors' History, (1995), https://remember.org/guide/history-root-stereotypes (accessed May 10, 2022).

66 Gulnaz Fatma, ‘Stereotyping, prejudice, discrimination and racialism in Toni Morrison’s The Bluest Eyes’, The Context 2, no. 4 (2015): 474–481, at 474, http://www.magnuspublishing.com/thecontext/2349-4948-86.pdf

67 Ibid.

68 Maulana Wahiduddin Khan, The Age of Peace (Goodword Books, 2015), at 41.

69 Fatma, ‘Stereotyping, prejudice, discrimination and racialism’, at 474–476.

70 Sascha O. Becker, Sharun Mukandb, and Ivan Yotzov, ‘Persecution, pogroms and genocide: A conceptual framework and new evidence’, Explorations in Economic History 86, 101471 (2022): 1–18, at 1, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.eeh.2022.101471

71 Lewi Stone, ‘Quantifying the Holocaust: Hyperintense kill rates during the Nazi genocide Stone’, Science Advances 5, no. eaau7292 (2019): 1–10, at 1.

72 Paul Bartrop, ‘The relationship between war and genocide in the twentieth century: A consideration’, Journal of Genocide Research 4, no. 4, (2002): 519–532, at 522.

73 Dunn, ‘The Holocaust History’.

74 Genocide in Cambodia, 1975–1979, https://echoesandreflections.org/wpcontent/uploads/2017/11/Cambodian_Genocide_Overview_FINAL.pdf (accessed May 1, 2022).

75 Ibid.

76 Ibid.

77 Adam Jones, Genocide: A Comprehensive Introduction, 2nd Edition (London: Routledge, 2010), at 317.

78 Amabelle C. Asuncion, ‘Pulling the Stops on Genocide: The State or the Individual?’, The European Journal of International Law 20, no. 4 (2009): 1195–1222, at 1203, doi:10.1093/ejil/chp074

79 Matthew Levinger, ‘Why the U.S. Government Failed to Anticipate the Rwandan Genocide of 1994: Lessons for Early Warning and Prevention’, Genocide Studies and Prevention: An International Journal 9, no. 3 (2016): 33–58, at 33, https://doi.org/10.5038/1911-9933.9.3.1362

80 Rudolph Joseph Rummel, Power Kills: Genocide and Mass Murder. https://hawaii.edu/powerkills//POWER.ART.HTM#TOP (accessed May 2, 2022).

81 Ibid.

82 Ibid.

83 Patrícia Nabuco Martuscelli, Bayes Ahmed, and Peter Sammonds, ‘Defying Genocide in Myanmar: Everyday Resistance Narratives of Rohingyas’, Journal of Genocide Research, (advanced article), (2022), at 1–2, doi:10.1080/14623528.2022.2078074

84 Dahlia Simangan, ‘Is the Philippine ‘War on Drugs’ an Act of Genocide?’, Journal of Genocide Research 20, no. 1 (2018): 68–89, at 80, doi:10.1080/14623528.2017.1379939

85 Amnesty International Report 2016/17: The State of the World’s Human Rights, Index Number: POL 10/4800/2017, (London, United Kingdom: Amnesty International, 2017), 1–409, at 295, https://www.amnesty.org/en/documents/pol10/4800/2017/en/ (accessed July 31, 2023).

86 Simangan, ‘Is the Philippine ‘War on Drugs’ an Act of Genocide?’, at 80.

87 Ibid., p. 14.

88 Ibid.

89 Ibid.

90 Ibid., p. 15.

91 Ibid.

92 Dunn, ‘The Holocaust History’.

93 Donald Bloxham and A. Dirk Moses, ‘Genocide and ethnic cleansing’, in Political Violence in Twentieth-Century Europe, eds. Donald Bloxham and Robert Gerwarth (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2011), 87–139, at 87, doi:10.1017/CBO9780511793271.004

94 Office of the Special Adviser on the Prevention of Genocide, the United Nations, New York, July 2010, https://www.un.org/ar/preventgenocide/adviser/pdf/osapg_booklet_eng.pdf (accessed April 11, 2023).

95 Ibid.

96 Margaret Wanjiru Njoroge and Gabriel Njoroge Kirori, ‘Ethnocentrism: Significance and effects on Kenyan society’, African Journal of Political Science and International Relations 8, no. 9 (2014): 356–367, at 356, https://doi.org/10.5897/AJPSIR2013.0596

97 Ibid.

98 Ibid.

99 Dawit Ashuro, ‘Exploring the Causes, Impacts and Mediums of Ethnocentrism: The Case of Selected Zones of South Nation Nationalities and Peoples Region, Ethiopia’, Psychol Behav Sci Int J 17, no. 2:555959 (2021): 1–9, at 9, doi:10.19080/PBSIJ.2021.17.555959

100 Linda M. Woolf and Michael R. Hulsizer, ‘Psychosocial roots of genocide: risk, prevention, and intervention’, Journal of Genocide Research 7, no. 1 (2005): 101–128, at 102, https://doi.org/10.1080/14623520500045088

101 Ibid.

102 Ibid., pp. 103–04.

103 Annegrete Palu, ‘Culture of fear: fear as context and as method of political influence’ [Bachelor’s thesis, 2014, Faculty of Social Sciences and Education, Institute of Government and Politics, Tartu: University of Tartu], University of Tartu DSpace, pp. 1–48, at 17–18, https://dspace.ut.ee/handle/10062/42874 (accessed February 20, 2023).

104 Thomas White and Hikmet Karčić, ‘Genocide in Bosnia-Hercegovina: A Short History’, pp. 1–19, at 1, https://www.keene.edu/academics/cchgs/resources/educational-handouts/genocide-in-bosnia-hercegovina-a-very-short-history/download/ (accessed April 9, 2023).

105 Woolf and Hulsizer, ‘Psychosocial roots of genocide’, p. 103.

106 Ibid.

107 Ibid., p. 104.

108 Ibid.

109 Mekonnen Hailemariam Zikargae, ‘The Impacts of Ethnocentrism and Stereotype on Inter-Cultural Relations of Ethiopian Higher Education Students’, Online Journal of Communication and Media Technologies 3, no. 4 (2013): 126–148, at 131.

110 Hazem Abu-Orf, ‘Fear of difference: ‘Space of risk’ and anxiety in violent settings’, Planning Theory 12, no. 2 (2013): 158–176, at. 166, https://doi.org/10.1177/1473095212443355

111 Daniel Bar-Tal, ‘Delegitimization: The Extreme Case of Stereotyping and Prejudice’, in Stereotyping and Prejudice, eds. D. Bar-Tal et al. (New York: Springer, 1989), 169–182, at 169, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4612-3582-8_8

112 Connie T. Wolfe and Steven J. Spencer, ‘Stereotypes and prejudice: Their overt and subtle influence in the classroom’, American Behavioral Scientist 40, no. 2 (1996): 176–185, at 176–77, https://doi.org/10.1177/0002764296040002008

113 Ibid.

114 An ‘in-group’ is a social group that a person feels a strong sense of belonging to on a psychological and cultural level.

115 An ‘out-group’ is a social group that a person does not belong to.

116 Woolf and Hulsizer, ‘Psychosocial roots of genocide’, pp. 114–16.

117 Ibid., p. 116.

118 Ibid.

119 Ibid.

120 Ibid., p. 117.

121 Ibid.

122 Ibid., p. 103.

123 Ibid., p. 114.

124 J. Christopher Cohrs and John Duckitt, ‘Prejudice, Types and Origins of’, in The Encyclopedia of Peace Psychology, ed. Daniel J. Christie (Malden, MA: Blackwell Publishing Ltd., 2011), 1–7, at 5, https://doi.org/10.1002/9780470672532.wbepp218 (accessed May 10, 2022).

125 Ibid.

126 Ibid.

127 Nguyen-Phuong-Mai, Potential Problems in Cross-Cultural Communications: Stereotypes, Prejudices, and Racism, (2015): 1–20, at 4–5, https://www.amsterdamuas.com/binaries/content/assets/subsites/international-business-school-ibs/chapter-4-stereotypes-prejudices-racism.pdf?1446654473610 (accessed May 10, 2022).

128 Ervin Staub, The Roots of Evil: The Origins of Genocide and Other Group Violence (New York: Cambridge University Press, 1989), at 19.

129 See ‘Brief History of the Holocaust: A Reference Tool’, Canada: Montreal Holocaust Museum, (2018), 1–36, at 5, https://museeholocauste.ca/app/uploads/2018/10/brief_history_holocaust_reference_tool.pdf (accessed April 29, 2023).

130 It denotes a society or country in which all its members adhere to the same religion, speak the same language, eat similar foods, dress similarly, and believe in the same origin myth; there is no global cultural mixing, and there are few or no minority subgroups. However, if minorities do exist, they live in ghettos.

131 Staub, ‘The Roots of Evil’, at 19.

132 Woolf and Hulsizer, ‘Psychosocial roots of genocide’, at 106.

133 Ibid., pp. 113–14.

134 Ibid., p. 110.

135 Ibid., p. 111.

136 Peter Lippman, Surviving the Peace: The Struggle for Postwar Recovery in Bosnia-Hercegovina (Nashville: Vanderbilt University, 2019), at 281.

137 Dunn, ‘The Holocaust History’.

138 Ibid.

139 Donald P. Green and Rachel L. Seher, ‘What Role Does Prejudice Play in Ethnic Conflict?’, Annual Review of Political Science 6, no. 1 (2003): 509–531, at 525.

140 Woolf and Hulsizer, ‘Psychosocial roots of genocide’, at 116.

141 Ibid., p. 517.

142 Mai, ‘Potential Problems in Cross-Cultural Communications’, p. 11.

143 Stuart Oskamp, ed., ‘Multiple Paths to Reducing Prejudice and Discrimination’, in Reducing prejudice and discrimination (Psychology Press, 2000), at 3.

144 Mai, ‘Potential Problems in Cross-Cultural Communications’, at 11.

145 Katja M. Flückiger, GCSP Policy Brief No. 21: Xenophobia, Media Stereotyping, and Their Role in Global Insecurity, (2006): 1–14, at 2–3, https://www.files.ethz.ch/isn/92736/Brief-21.pdf (accessed May 10, 2022).

146 Andres Gascon, et al., Step in! Be Active Against Racist Propaganda and Hate Speech Online (Amsterdam: UNITED for Intercultural Action in co-operation with the European Youth Centre of the Council of Europe, European Youth Centre Strasbourg, 2012), pp. 1–28, at 15, https://rm.coe.int/16806fd5b2 (accessed May 10, 2022).

147 Joseph E. Uscinski, ‘What Is a Conspiracy Theory?’, in Conspiracy Theories and the People Who Believe Them, ed. Joseph E. Uscinski (New York: Oxford University Press, 2019), at 48, https://doi.org/10.1093/oso/9780190844073.001.0001

148 Ghada M. Awada, ‘Religion and Religiosity: A Path to War or Peace’, Polish Political Science Review. Polski Przegląd Politologiczny 6, no. 2 (2018): 55–69, at 62, https://doi.org/10.2478/ppsr-2018-0013

149 Susilo Wibisono, Winnifred R. Louis, and Jolanda Jetten, ‘A Multidimensional Analysis of Religious Extremism’, Frontiers in Psychology 10, no. 2560, (2019): 1–12, at 4–5, doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2019.02560

150 Anthony Gill, ‘Religion and Comparative Politics’, Annual Review of Political Science 4 (2001): 117–138, at 117–18, https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev.polisci.4.1.117

151 Cindy A. Sousa, ‘Political violence, collective functioning and health: A review of the literature’, Medicine, Conflict and Survival 29, no. 3 (2013): 169–197, at 169–70, doi:10.1080/13623699.2013.813109

152 Simon Foley, Understanding Media Propaganda in the 21st Century: Manufacturing Consent Revisited and Revised (UK: Cambridge Scholars Publishing, 2021), at 9.

153 Asuncion, ‘Pulling the Stops on Genocide’, at 1202-04.

154 Office of the Special Adviser on the Prevention of Genocide, United Nations, New York, https://www.un.org/ar/preventgenocide/adviser/pdf/osapg_booklet_eng.pdf (accessed April 10, 2023).

155 Ibid.

156 Radhika Bhat, ‘Again, and Again, and Again: Why We Fail in the Face of Genocide’, Berkeley Undergraduate Journal 21, no. 2 (2008): 1–28, at 7, https://doi.org/10.5070/B3212007662

157 Miriam J. Aukerman, ‘Extraordinary Evil, Ordinary Crime: A Framework for Understanding Transitional Justice’, Harvard Human Rights Journal 39 (2002): 39–99, at 72–73.

158 Neil J. Kritz, ‘Coming to Terms with Atrocities: A Review of Accountability Mechanisms for Mass Violations of Human Rights’, Law & Contemporary Problems 59 (1996): 127–52, at 133.

159 Karen Engle, Zinaida Miller and D. M. Davis, ‘Anti-Impunity and the Human Rights Agenda’, in Anti-Impunity and the Human Rights Agenda, eds. Karen Engle, Zinaida Miller and D. M. Davis (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2016), at i–ii.

160 Bhat, ‘Again, and Again, and Again’, at 25.

161 Woolf and Hulsizer, ‘Psychosocial roots of genocide’, at 124.

162 Ibid.

163 Gregory H. Stanton, ‘The 8 Stages of Genocide’, Genocide Watch, n.d., n.p., http://genocidewatch.net/genocide-2/8-stages-of-genocide/ (accessed July 30, 2023).

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Md. Intekhab Hossain

Md. Intekhab Hossain, M.Sc. (Anthropology), Ph.D. (Sociology), is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Anthropology, Prabhat Kumar College, Contai, West Bengal, India. Dr. Hossain has previously served as a Lecturer in the Department of Sociology at Aliah University, Kolkata. His principal research interests lie in Cultural Identity, Racial & Ethnic Groups, Ethnicity, Minority, Intercultural Communication, Hate Crimes, Racism, Fascism, Dictatorship, Government Complicity, Ethnic Cleansing, Genocide, Organised Criminality, Political Dimension of Religion, Human Rights, Democracy, Globalisation, Global Citizenship, Cultural Diversity, Multicultural Understanding, Cultural Syncretism, & Inter-Faith Harmony, et al. Dr. Hossain has published his scholarly articles in various peer-reviewed, leading journals of international repute. Some of his scholarly articles have appeared in The Palgrave Handbook of Global Social Change (Palgrave Macmillan, Springer Nature), International Journal on Minority and Group Rights (Brill), Asian Ethnicity (Routledge), Journal of Muslim Minority Affairs (Routledge), Studies in Interreligious Dialogue (Peeters Publishers), Ethnopolitics (Routledge), The International Journal of Human Rights (Routledge), & Eurasian Journal of Anthropology, to mention the foremost publications.