For far too long the discipline of International Relations has failed to engage with the study of genocide. This is despite the fact that genocide holds a direct relationship with the central concepts of international relations: the state, war, power, and security. This bold, innovative and unique book sets out to tackle this by bringing the concept of genocide into the discipline of IR, via the English School, in order to theorise the relationship between genocide, justice, and order. Drawing on a wide-range of primary and secondary interdisciplinary material from International Relations, Genocide Studies, Security Studies, International Law, History, Politics and Political Theory, this book aims to understand genocide within the context of International Relations and the implications that this has on policymaking. Gallagher identifies the obstacles and challenges involved in bringing the study of genocide into IR and uniquely analyses the impact of genocide on the ordering structure of international society.
In 1948 the United Nations passed the Genocide Convention. The international community was now obligated to prevent or halt what had hitherto, in Winston Churchill’s words, been a "crime without a name", and to punish the perpetrators. Since then, however, genocide has recurred repeatedly. Millions of people have been murdered by sovereign nation states, confident in their ability to act with impunity within their own borders. Tracing the history of genocide since 1945, and looking at a number of cases across continents and decades, this book discusses a range of critical and inter-connected issues such as: why this crime is different, why exactly it is said to be "the crime of crimes" how each genocide involves a deadly triangle of perpetrators (with their collaborators), victims and bystanders as well as rescuers the different stages that genocides go through, from conception to denial the different explanations that have been put forward for why genocide takes place and the question of humanitarian intervention. Genocide since 1945 aims to help the reader understand how, when, where and why this crime has been committed since 1945, why it has proven so difficult to halt or prevent its recurrence, and what now might be done about it. It is essential reading for all those interested in the contemporary world.
For far too long the discipline of International Relations has failed to engage with the study of genocide. This is despite the fact that genocide holds a direct relationship with the central concepts of international relations: the state, war, power, and security. This bold, innovative and unique book sets out to tackle this by bringing the concept of genocide into the discipline of IR, via the English School, in order to theorise the relationship between genocide, justice, and order. Drawing on a wide-range of primary and secondary interdisciplinary material from International Relations, Genocide Studies, Security Studies, International Law, History, Politics and Political Theory, this book aims to understand genocide within the context of International Relations and the implications that this has on policymaking. Gallagher identifies the obstacles and challenges involved in bringing the study of genocide into IR and uniquely analyses the impact of genocide on the ordering structure of international society.
In the last two decades, the field of comparative genocide studies has produced an increasingly rich literature on the targeting of various groups for extermination and other atrocities, throughout history and around the contemporary world. However, the phenomenon of "genocides by the oppressed," that is, retributive genocidal actions carried out by subaltern actors, has received almost no attention. The prominence in such genocides of non-state actors, combined with the perceived moral ambiguities of retributive genocide that arise in analyzing genocidal acts "from below," have so far eluded serious investigation. Genocides by the Oppressed addresses this oversight, opening the subject of subaltern genocide for exploration by scholars of genocide, ethnic conflict, and human rights. Focusing on case studies of such genocide, the contributors explore its sociological, anthropological, psychological, symbolic, and normative dimensions.
Governments, Citizens, and Genocide A Comparative and Interdisciplinary Approach Alex Alvarez A comprehensive analysis demonstrating how whole societies come to support the practice of genocide. "Alex Alvarez has produced an exceptionally comprehensive and useful analysis of modern genocide... [It] is perhaps the most important interdisciplinary account to appear since Zygmunt Bauman's classic work, Modernity and the Holocaust." -- Stephen Feinstein, Director, Center for Holocaust and Genocide Studies "Alex Alvarez has written a first-rate propaedeutic on the running sore of genocide. The singular merit of the work is its capacity to integrate a diverse literature in a fair-minded way and to take account of genocides in the post-Holocaust environment ranging from Cambodia to Serbia. The work reveals patterns of authoritarian continuities of repression and rule across cultures that merit serious and widespread public concern." -- Irving Louis Horowitz, Rutgers University More people have been killed in 20th-century genocides than in all wars and revolutions in the same period. Recent events in countries such as Rwanda and the former Yugoslavia have drawn attention to the fact that genocide is a pressing contemporary problem, one that has involved the United States in varying negotiating and peace-keeping roles. Genocide is increasingly recognized as a threat to national and international security, as well as a source of tremendous human suffering and social devastation. Governments, Citizens, and Genocide views the crime of genocide through the lens of social science. It discusses the problem of defining genocide and then examines it from the levels of the state, the organization, and the individual. Alex Alvarez offers both a skillful synthesis of the existing literature on genocide and important new insights developed from the study of criminal behavior. He shows that governmental policies and institutions in genocidal states are designed to suppress the moral inhibitions of ordinary individuals. By linking different levels of analysis, and comparing a variety of cases, the study provides a much more complex understanding of genocide than have prior studies. Based on lessons drawn from his analysis, Alvarez offers an important discussion of the ways in which genocide might be anticipated and prevented. Alex Alvarez is Associate Professor in the Department of Criminal Justice at Northern Arizona University. His primary research interests are minorities, crime, and criminal justice, as well as collective and interpersonal violence. He is author of articles in Journal of Criminal Justice, Social Science History, and Sociological Imagination and is currently writing a book on patterns of American murder. April 2001 240 pages, 6 1/8 x 9 1/4, bibl., index cloth 0-253-33849-2 $29.95 s / £22.95 Contents The Age of Genocide A Crime By Any Other Name Deadly Regimes Lethal Cogs Accommodating Genocide Confronting Genocide =
Whilst the impact of genocide on the populations being targeted is routinely studied, the impact of genocide on international society is routinely overlooked. With this in mind, this thesis brings the study of genocide into IR, via the English School, in order to understand the broader impact of genocide on the ordering structure of international society. The thesis puts forward a novel approach in that it explores the relationship between genocide and international legitimacy and how this relationship has critical implications for the United Nations. It will be argued that genocide holds a special relationship with international legitimacy because it is internationally regarded as the "crime of crimes" from both a legal and moral perspective. It is proposed therefore, that this particular injustice has more of a profound impact on the ordering structure of international society than is presently recognised. In sharp contrast to much of the thinking that underpins present foreign policymaking, it will be claimed that because of the special relationship that genocide holds with international legitimacy, genocide can be understood to pose a threat to international order as it erodes both the legitimate authority of the UN (which acts as the cornerstone of international legitimacy) and the UN Security Council (which acts as the stabilising function in international relations) more than any other crime. It is hoped that through understanding the crime's relationship with international legitimacy, and the post-Cold War legitimacy crisis, a more informed understanding of genocide can be acheived. Although the 2005 UN-led Responsibility to Protect initiative addressed some of the issues at hand, its endorsement has not resolved the fundamental problem of altering political will. If one accepts that genocide has a significant impact on international order, then one has to accept that the prevention of genocide is within the national interest of all states, that is, if they value international stability.
"A half-century ago, the international community made a solemn promise to "never again" allow genocide to go unchallenged. In the early days of the post-Cold War era, international leaders failed to stop horrific genocides in Bosnia and Rwanda, chiefly because Western leaders lacked the "political will" to use decisive force. Despite increased attention to war crimes issues, American foreign policy still gives lowest priority to responding to gross abuses of human rights. In Genocide and the Global Village, Kenneth J. Campbell explains why the international community fails to prevent, suppress, and punish contemporary genocide. Campbell provides a multilevel analysis of genocide's impact upon world order. He also looks at the interplay of politics and morality in the international community's determination of the appropriate role for military force in halting genocide and securing an emerging global civil society. He recommends practical steps that the international community can take to greatly improve its response the next time genocide occurs - a next time that will occur."--BOOK JACKET.Title Summary field provided by Blackwell North America, Inc. All Rights Reserved
An invaluable introduction to the subject of genocide, explaining its history from pre-modern times to the present day, with a wide variety of case studies. Recent events in the former Yugoslavia, Rwanda, East Timor and Iraq have demonstrated with appalling clarity that the threat of genocide is still a major issue within world politics. The book examines the differing interpretations of genocide from psychology, sociology, anthropology and political science and analyzes the influence of race, ethnicity, nationalism and gender on genocides. In the final section, the author examines how we punish those responsible for waging genocide and how the international community can prevent further bloodshed.
