Perpetrating Genocide: A Criminological Account

291 Pages·2017·5.112 MB·English

by  Kjell Anderson

Perpetrating Genocide
Focusing on the relationship between the micro level of perpetrator motivation
and the macro level normative discourse, this book offers an in-d epth explana-
tion 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-r anging secondary and archival sources. Topics
covered include: perpetration in organizations, genocidal propaganda, the char-
acteristics of perpetrators, decision-m aking 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.
Kjell Anderson is an interdisciplinary scholar specializing in the study of mass
violence, and is currently an Affiliated Research Fellow of the Centre for Inter-
national Criminal Justice at the Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam.
Routledge Studies in Genocide and Crimes against Humanity
Edited by Adam Jones
University of British Columbia in Kelowna, Canada
The Routledge Studies in Genocide and Crimes against Humanity series publishes
cutting- edge research and reflections on these urgently contemporary topics. While
focusing on political- historical approaches to genocide and other mass crimes, the
series is open to diverse contributions from the social sciences, humanities, law, and
beyond. Proposals for both sole-a uthored and edited volumes are welcome.
For more information about this series, please visit: www.routledge.com/
Routledge-S tudies-in-G enocide-and-C rimes-against-H umanity/book-s eries/RSGCH
The Structural Prevention of Mass Atrocities
Understanding Risks and Resilience
Stephen McLoughlin
Constructing Genocide and Mass Violence
Society, Crisis, Identity
Maureen Hiebert
Last Lectures on the Prevention and Intervention of Genocide
Edited by Samuel Totten
Perpetrating Genocide
A Criminological Account
Kjell Anderson
The United States and Genocide
(Re)Defining the Relationship
Jeffrey S. Bachman
Perpetrating Genocide
A Criminological Account
Kjell Anderson
First published 2018
by Routledge
2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon OX14 4RN
and by Routledge
711 Third Avenue, New York, NY 10017
Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business
© 2018 Kjell Anderson
The right of Kjell Anderson to be identified as author of this work has
been asserted by him in accordance with sections 77 and 78 of the
Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or
utilized in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now
known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in
any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing
from the publishers.
Trademark notice: Product or corporate names may be trademarks or
registered trademarks, and are used only for identification and explanation
without intent to infringe.
British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data
Names: Anderson, Kjell Follingstad, 1977– author.
Title: Perpetrating genocide : a criminological account / Kjell Anderson.
Description: Abingdon, Oxon ; New York, NY : Routledge is an imprint
of the Taylor & Francis Group, an Informa Business, [2018] | Series:
Routledge studies in genocide and crimes against humanity | Includes
bibliographical references and index.
Identifiers: LCCN 2017034780| ISBN 9781138648814 (hbk) |
ISBN 9781315626239 (ebk)
Subjects: LCSH: Genocide–Research. | Genocide–Case studies. | Mass
murderers–Research. | Mass murderers–Case studies.
Classification: LCC HV6322.7 .A63 2018 | DDC 364.15/1–dc23
LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2017034780
ISBN: 978-1-138-64881-4 (hbk)
ISBN: 978-1-31562-623-9 (ebk)
Typeset in Times New Roman
by Wearset Ltd, Boldon, Tyne and Wear
It has been said that evil is the absence of empathy.
If evil is the absence of empathy, then hell is the absence
of hope.
I dedicate this work to empathy and to hope.

Contents
List of illustrations x
Acknowledgments xi
Prologue: inside Nyamata Church xiii
1 Introduction: an unimaginable and uncharacteristic act 1
Imagining the unimaginable 1
Methodology and objectives of this book 7
2 The emergence of the genocidal context 17
Introduction: the genesis of genocide 17
The prohibition of killing 19
Catastrophic loss: the context of the genocidal state 19
The drivers of the emergence of the genocidal context 23
Radicalization 26
Genocide in public and private spaces 32
Conclusion: social order and disorder 37
3 The genocidal context 43
Introduction: harm-p roducing relations of power 43
The genocidal state as a state of moral disengagement 44
Genocidal contexts compared 46
Norms facilitating violence 47
Structures facilitating violence 51
The genocidal state as an organizational culture 60
State power and the localization of the moral context 62
Conclusion: structuring choice 63
viii Contents
4 Propaganda: communicating the moral context 69
Introduction 69
The functions of propaganda 70
The dehumanization dynamic: scapegoating and normative
shifts 71
Genocidal ideology 73
Mechanisms of genocidal propaganda 75
Genocidal discourses 78
Conclusion: state power and propaganda 87
5 Who kills? 93
Introduction 93
Profiling perpetrators 94
Perpetrator coalitions 99
Pathways to perpetration 101
Variable individual responses to genocide 111
Controls 116
Conclusion: distance and propensity 117
6 Deciding to kill 124
Introduction 124
Perpetrator opportunity 125
Decision- making 128
Social margin of discretion 130
Role margin of discretion 131
The immediate margin of discretion 133
Risks and incentives 138
Conclusion: mass violence and individual will 145
7 Killing 150
Introduction: from context to killing 150
Mobilizing perpetrators 150
The killing inhibition: willing executioners? 154
Kill, flee, posture, resist? 156
The boundaries of violence 158
Forced perpetration 163
Conclusion 165
Contents ix
8 Rationalizing killing 170
Introduction: reconciling with the moral context 170
The genocidal techniques of neutralization 170
Assessing moral neutralization 182
Subcultural narratives in genocide 184
Conclusion: tools of adaptation 185
9 Coping with killing 191
Introduction: adjusting to genocide 191
The progression of genocide 191
Individual recidivism 199
Systems of denial 209
Conclusion: genocidal momentum 211
10 After genocide I: memory, trauma, and rehabilitation 217
Introduction: forgetting genocide 217
Reforming the criminogenic state 219
The evolution of perpetrator narratives 223
Conclusion: after genocide 231
11 After genocide II: justice 236
Introduction: transitional justice and the prosecution of
genocide 236
Prosecuting genocide 237
Prosecution as prevention 245
Reconsidering transitional justice 248
Conclusion: simple answers for complex questions? 249
12 Conclusion: killing without consequence? 253
Comprehending genocide 253
The globalization of conscience? 256
Evil and intention: sleepwalking through the end of the world 259
Index 264