In how far can ethnic cleansing and its consequences contribute to the internal stability and external security of the states affected by such demographic changes?

Following a conceptual clarification of forced population transfers, a number of cases of forced population transfers in twentieth century Europe are outlined and compared. The article does not attempt to provide a normative assessment of forced population transfers but seeks to establish under what conditions, if any, forced population transfers can adequately address the root causes of the self‐determination conflicts that they are supposed to resolve.