Perpetrating Genocide: A Criminological Account

Description

Focusing on the relationship between the micro level of perpetrator motivation and the macro level normative discourse, this book offers an in-depth explanation for the perpetration of genocide. It is the first comparative criminological treatment of genocide drawn from original field research, based substantially on the author’s interviews with perpetrators and victims of genocide and mass atrocities, combined with wide-ranging secondary and archival sources. Topics covered include: perpetration in organizations, genocidal propaganda, the characteristics of perpetrators, decision-making in genocide, genocidal mobilization, coping with killing, perpetrator memory and trauma, moral rationalization, and transitional justice. An interdisciplinary and comparative analysis, this book utilizes scientific methods with the objective of gaining some degree of insight into the causes of genocide and genocide perpetration. It is argued that genocide is more than a mere intellectual abstraction – it is a crime with real consequences and real victims. Abstraction and objectivity may be intellectual ideals but they are not ideally humane; genocide is ultimately about the destruction of humanity. Thus, this book avoids presenting an overly abstract image of genocide, but rather grounds its analysis in interviews with victims and perpetrators of genocide in Rwanda, Burundi, Uganda, Bosnia, Cambodia, Bangladesh, and Iraq. This book will be highly useful to students and scholars with an interest in genocide and the causes of mass violence. It will also be of interest to policy-makers engaged with the issues of genocide and conflict prevention. Cover Series Page Title Page Copyright Page Dedication Page Contents List of Illustrations Acknowledgments Prologue: Inside Nyamata Church Visiting perpetrator worlds Note Chapter 1: Introduction: An unimaginable and uncharacteristic act Imagining the unimaginable The crime of genocide The enigma of causation Methodology and objectives of this book Theoretical approach Methodological approach: towards a criminology of genocide perpetration Structure of the book Notes Works cited Chapter 2: The emergence of the genocidal context Introduction: the genesis of genocide The prohibition of killing Catastrophic loss: the context of the genocidal state Strain and adaptation Political and economic crises and strain The drivers of the emergence of the genocidal context Radicalization State radicalization: mainstreaming atrocity Group radicalization: the humanity gap Individual radicalization: the surrender of the will Genocide in public and private spaces Polarization in the economic and political spheres Violence and social relations Escalation and restraint Conclusion: social order and disorder Works cited Notes Chapter 3: The genocidal context Introduction: harm-producing relations of power The genocidal state as a state of moral disengagement Genocidal contexts compared Norms facilitating violence Obedience Conformity Urgency Structures facilitating violence The legal system Organizing genocide Killing in organizations Violence specialists Paramilitaries Prisons and concentration camps The genocidal state as an organizational culture State power and the localization of the moral context Conclusion: structuring choice Notes Works cited Chapter 4: Propaganda: Communicating the moral context Introduction The functions of propaganda The dehumanization dynamic: scapegoating and normative shifts Genocidal ideology Mechanisms of genocidal propaganda Genocidal discourses Stigmatizing propaganda Group-bindingnarratives Conclusion: state power and propaganda Notes Works cited Chapter 5: Who kills? Introduction Profiling perpetrators Killing as a necessary evil The marginal Joining The typical perpetrator Perpetrator coalitions Professionals and amateurs Vanguard and reluctant perpetrators Direct perpetrators and leaders Pathways to perpetration Pathological perpetration Ideological perpetration Entrepreneurial perpetration Conformist perpetration Compromised perpetration Variable individual responses to genocide Action roles in genocide The propensity to rescue: rescuers as outliers Controls Conclusion: distance and propensity Notes Works cited Chapter 6: Deciding to kill Introduction Perpetrator opportunity Victim vulnerability Decision-making Social margin of discretion Role margin of discretion The immediate margin of discretion Presence of authority figures Group dynamics Distance Perceived threat Emotion and intoxication Risks and incentives Moral rules Direct and indirect perpetrators Norm bandwagons and tipping points Conclusion: mass violence and individual will Notes Works cited Chapter 7: Killing Introduction: from context to killing Mobilizing perpetrators The killing inhibition: willing executioners? Kill, flee, posture, resist? The boundaries of violence Forced perpetration Conclusion Notes Works cited Chapter 8: Rationalizing killing Introduction: reconciling with the moral context The genocidal techniques of neutralization Neutralization-drift theory Appeal to higher loyalties Denial of the victim Denial of humanity Denial of responsibility Denial of injury Claim of normality Claim of inevitability Claim of relative acceptability Claim of inner opposition The denial of autonomy Assessing moral neutralization Subcultural narratives in genocide Conclusion: tools of adaptation Notes Works cited Chapter 9: Coping with killing Introduction: adjusting to genocide The progression of genocide Escalating violence The “problem” of the decent Jew next door: overcoming resistance to killing Perpetrator R22, Hutu Male, Mbazi Sector, “Ignace” The end of genocide Individual recidivism Effects of killing on perpetrators Coping mechanisms The decreasing cost of perpetration Perpetrator identity The sadistic shift Systems of denial Conclusion: genocidal momentum Notes Works cited Chapter 10: After genocide I: Memory, trauma, and rehabilitation Introduction: forgetting genocide Reforming the criminogenic state The evolution of perpetrator narratives Memory Trauma Rehabilitation Conclusion: after genocide Notes Works cited Chapter 11: After genocide II: Justice Introduction: transitional justice and the prosecution of genocide Prosecuting genocide Legal ordering The problem of genocidal intent The attribution of responsibility The reproduction of perpetrator narratives Prosecution as prevention Reconsidering transitional justice Conclusion: simple answers for complex questions? Notes Works cited Chapter 12: Conclusion: Killing without consequence? Comprehending genocide The globalization of conscience? Evil and intention: sleepwalking through the end of the world Notes Works cited Index