1st Edition

Constructing Genocide and Mass Violence Society, Crisis, Identity

By Maureen S. Hiebert Copyright 2017
    242 Pages
    by Routledge

    242 Pages
    by Routledge

    This book addresses two closely related questions: what is the process by which the relatively short and violent genocides of the twentieth century and beyond have occurred? Why have these instances of mass violence been genocidal and not some other form of state violence, repression, or conflict?

    Hiebert answers these questions by exploring the structures and processes that underpin the decision by political elites to commit genocide, focusing on a sustained comparison of two cases, the Nazi ' Final Solution' and the Cambodian genocide. The book clearly differentiates the structures and processes - contained within a larger overall process - that leads to genocidal violence. Uncovering the mechanisms by which societies (at least in the contemporary era) come to experience genocide as a distinct form of destruction and not some other form of mass or political violence, Hiebert is able to highlight a set of key process that lead to specifically genocidal violence.

    Providing an insightful contribution to the burgeoning literature in this area, this book will be of interest to students and scholars of genocide, international relations, and political violence.

    Chapter 1: The genocidal process: a constructivist approach

    Introduction

    Part I: Theorizing the "permissive" socio-political environment of genocide

    Introduction

    I. The ‘permissive’ socio-political environment: a theoretical overview

    II. Three dimensions of the permissive socio-political environment of genocide

    Chapter 2: Germany

    I. Exclusionary and unequal patterns of group interaction

    II. Exclusionary conceptions of the community

    III. Authoritarian modes of conflict management

    Chapter 3: Cambodia

    I. Exclusionary and unequal patterns of group interaction

    II. Exclusionary conceptions of the community

    III. Authoritarian modes of conflict management

    Conclusion to Part I

    Part II: Introduction crises and interpretation: the catalyst for killing

    Introduction

    Chapter 4: Inter-war Germany: crises and interpretation

    I. Security crises

    II. Economic crises

    III. Political crises

    Chapter 5: Cambodia: the Sihanoukist and Lon Nol years: crises and interpretation

    I. Economic crises

    II. Political crises

    III. Military and security crises

    Conclusion to Part II

    Part III: Reconceptualizing the victim group: the "three switches" of genocide

    Introduction

    I. Genocide as a strategic or rational choice?

    II. Constructing victims: a constructivist explanation

    III. The "three switches"

    III. Warrants for genocide

    Chapter 6: Nazi final solution

    I. Switch one: victims as foreigners

    II. Switch two: victims as mortal threats

    III. Switch three: victims as sub-humans

    Chapter 7: The Khmer Rouge killing fields

    I. Switch one: victims as foreigners

    II. Switch two: victims as mortal threat

    III. Switch three:victims as sub-humans

    Chapter 8: Vietnam: abuses without genocide

    I. Switch one: victims as wayward opponents

    II. Switch two: the threat of actors with real power

    Conclusion to Part III

    Biography

    Maureen S. Hiebert is Associate Professor in the Department of Political Science and Senior Research Fellow in the Centre for Military, Security and Strategic Studies at the University of Calgary, Canada.