Ethnic cleansing is a term used to describe the forced removal of a group of people from a specific area. It was first widely recognized during the war in Yugoslavia in the 1990s. While some argue that ethnic cleansing is a softer term for genocide, there is a distinction between the two. Genocide involves the deliberate killing of a group, while ethnic cleansing focuses on driving people away from a certain territory. However, ethnic cleansing can sometimes lead to genocide, as seen in historical events like the Armenian genocide and the Holocaust. This practice often arises in modern states that promote nationalism, where political leaders use it to gain power by creating a sense of unity among the dominant group.