New Ideas in the Study of Genocide – Insights From Omar McDoom’s Book on Rwanda

Session Submission Type: Virtual Author meet critics

Session Description

The panel considers the contributions to theory and understanding of genocide offered by Omar Shahabudin McDoom's new book The Path to Genocide in Rwanda: Security, Opportunity, and Authority in an Ethnocratic State (Cambridge, 2021). The book addresses several discrete theoretical questions that have been the subject of debate in the study of genocide. Among the topics the book engages are: (i) Differential selection: how and why are certain individuals drawn into genocidal violence and others not?; (ii) Perpetrator heterogeneity: are genocide perpetrators largely 'ordinary' individuals or do important differences exist between them?; (iii) Ex-post radicalization: are individuals radicalized before or after the commission of violence?; (iv) Extra-lethal violence: how do we explain gratuitous pain and suffering inflicted on victims observed in genocide?; (v) Micro-mobilization: what role do critical masses play in mass popular mobilization?; (vi) Anti-social capital: through what mechanisms do social networks mediate participation in the violence?; (vii) Ideological pluralism: is there a single dominant extremist ideology in genocidal societies and, if not, what explains why more moderate inclusionary ideologies do not prevail?; (viii) Variation within violence: what explains differences in the characteristics of the violence – its speed, scale, and scope - within genocide?; (ix) Elite-centrism: Is genocide solely the product of decisions made 'at the top' or does popular pressure 'from below' play a part? (x) Strategic interdependence: how do intra-ethnic and inter-ethnic dynamics interact to produce genocide? (xi) Rationality and emotions: is genocide rational, and if not, what role do emotions play in its production?

In addition to the author, the panel includes three critics. Stathis Kalyvas is the author of The Logic of Violence in Civil War (Cambridge, 2006). Among its many theoretical contributions, those relevant for McDoom's work include the importance attached to synthesizing agenda for violence at the micro- and macro-levels and the analytical distinction drawn between violence and war/genocide. McDoom, however, suggests other factors – more opportunity than preference-based – also explain variation observed in violence. Scott Straus is the author of The Order of Genocide: Race, War, and Power in Rwanda (Cornell, 2006) and the Making and Unmaking of Nations: War, Leadership, and Genocide in Modern Africa (Cornell, 2015). The first book similarly offered a rigorous and empirically-rich explanation for Rwanda's genocide at both the local and national levels. The second book innovatively compared cases where genocide did and did not occur to offer a grander theory of genocide, emphasizing the importance of ideational factors in explaining why genocide specifically is chosen over other potential solutions to groups perceived as problematic. Benjamin Valentino is the author of Final Solutions: Mass Killing and Genocide in the Twentieth Century (Cornell, 2004). In contrast with Straus, Valentino, drawing on a wide range of cases in disparate contexts, identifies a common strategic logic behind mass killings and emphasizes rationality over ideology in the choices made by elite actors for dealing with problematic groups. McDoom's book engages the debates over the role of reason and emotions, and the role of material and ideational factors in explanations of genocide.

Sub Unit

• Division 21: Conflict Processes

Chair

• Omar Shahabudin McDoom London School of Economics

Presenters

• Stathis N. Kalyvas Yale University

• Scott Straus University of California, Berkeley

• Benjamin A. Valentino Dartmouth College