Genocide: a Comprehensive Introduction

"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.

This book provides a comprehensive introduction to the subject of genocide. It explains the history of genocide from pre-modern times to the present day and illustrates this with a wide variety of case studies. The book also examines the differing interpretations of genocide from psychology, sociology, anthropology and political science and analyses 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."--Publisher description.

Genocide against Buddhists and ethnic minorities.

Cover; Title; Copyright; Dedication; Contents; List of Illustrations; About the Author; Preface; Acknowledgments; Part 1 Overview; 1 The Origins of Genocide; Genocide in prehistory, antiquity, and early modernity; The Vendée uprising; Zulu genocide; Naming genocide: Raphael Lemkin; Defining genocide: The UN Convention; Bounding genocide: Comparative genocide studies; Discussion; What is destroyed in genocide?; Multiple and overlapping identities; Dynamism and contingency; The question of genocidal intent; Contested cases of genocide; Atlantic slavery-and after.

Area bombing and nuclear warfareThe Biafra war; UN sanctions against Iraq; 9/11: Terrorism as genocide?; Structural and institutional violence; Is genocide ever justified?; Further study; Notes; 2 State and Empire; War and Revolution; The state, imperialism, and genocide; Imperial famines; The Congo "rubber terror"; The Japanese in East and Southeast Asia; The US in Indochina; The Soviets in Afghanistan; Imperial ascent and dissolution; Genocide and war; The First World War and the dawn of industrial death; The Second World War and the "barbarization of warfare."

Genocide and social revolutionThe nuclear revolution and "o…