The Economy of Killing: The Role of Economic Dispossession in Genocide

• In Event: Global Shifts in Party Politics and Power

Abstract

Despite the growth of genocide research across academic fields, including political science, little
work has taken seriously the role economic dispossession plays in the genocide process. This
project examines a range of actors engaging in genocide by looking at new economic
opportunities and genocidal strategies that become viable. By viewing genocide within a
political-economic environment, key (often invisible and overlooked) actors, structures, and
strategies emerge that contribute directly or indirectly to the genocide process. Through
inductive research, this dissertation theorizes first that economic dispossession generates social,
material, and ideological channels that contribute to the genocide. Second, it presents a theory
for understanding the tools and mechanisms of economic dispossession, offering three main
avenues for dispossession: policy, plunder, and profit. I analyze the variant ways these tools
manifest through a comparative case analysis of the Holocaust, Bosnia, and Rwanda.

Author

• Maddy Rhinehart, Syracuse University