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What Is Genocide?

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An Introduction to the Criminology of Genocide

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Abstract

This chapter is designed to explain the evolution of the concept of genocide and the definitional issues that exist in determining what acts qualify as genocide. A discussion of the work of Raphael Lemkin includes highlighting his early work on the subject, his development of the word, and his original definition of the crime. This includes exploring Lemkin’s methodology of genocide—how genocide could occur.

After exploring Lemkin’s original definition of genocide, there is a discussion of how the concept of genocide was officially codified by the United Nations. After exploring the UN official definition of genocide, it can be compared with Lemkin’s original concept for similarities and differences. Then alternative definitions of genocide will be explored.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    Jehljune, D. (1994, June 10). Officials told to avoid calling Rwanda killings ‘genocide.’ The New York Times, p. 8.

  2. 2.

    United States Department of State. (1994). Action memorandum from Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs George E. Moose to Secretary of State Warren Christopher, “Has genocide occurred in Rwanda?” George Washington University: The National Security Archive.

  3. 3.

    TheHistoryTV. (2016, March 23). Genocide and the world response (State Department Rwanda 1994). Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DFgLA2tE7_o

  4. 4.

    Lemkin, Raphael (2012). Lemkin on genocide. Steven L. Jacobs (Ed.). Lanham, MD: Lexington Books, 20.

  5. 5.

    Chalk, Frank & Jonassohn, Kurt (1990). The history and sociology of genocide: Analyses and case studies. New Haven: Yale University Press.

  6. 6.

    Supra note 4.

  7. 7.

    Rubinstein, William D. (2004). Genocide: A history. Harlow, England: Pearson.

  8. 8.

    Lemkin, Raphael (2013). Totally unofficial: The autobiography of Raphael Lemkin. Donna-Lee Frieze (Ed.). New Haven: Yale University Press.

  9. 9.

    Ibid., at 19.

  10. 10.

    Power, Samantha (2002). “A problem from hell”: America and the age of genocide. New York: Harper Perennial.

  11. 11.

    Ibid., at 20–22; Supra note 8 at 22.

  12. 12.

    Ibid.

  13. 13.

    Supra note 8 at 23.

  14. 14.

    Supra note 10 at 22.

  15. 15.

    Supra note 8 at 24.

  16. 16.

    Supra note 10 at 25–26.

  17. 17.

    Lemkin, Raphael (1946). Genocide. American Scholar, 15(2), 227–230: 227.

  18. 18.

    Lemkin, Raphael (1945). Genocide—A modern crime. Free World, 4, 39–43.

  19. 19.

    Supra note 17.

  20. 20.

    Supra note 18.

  21. 21.

    Ibid.

  22. 22.

    Ibid.

  23. 23.

    Ibid.

  24. 24.

    Ibid.

  25. 25.

    Ibid.

  26. 26.

    Ibid.

  27. 27.

    Supra note 5.

  28. 28.

    Ibid., at 23.

  29. 29.

    Charny, Israel (1994). “Toward a generic definition of genocide.” In G.A. Andreopoulous (Ed.), Genocide: Conceptual and historical dimensions (pp. 64–94). Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press.

  30. 30.

    Shaw, Martin (2007). What is genocide? Cambridge: Polity Press: 154.

  31. 31.

    Fein, Helen (1990). “Genocide: A sociological perspective.” Current Sociology, 38(1): 24.

  32. 32.

    Durkheim, Emile ([1895] 1982). The rules of the sociological method. Steven Lukes (Ed.) (W.D. Halls, Trans.). New York: Free Press, 67–68.

  33. 33.

    Supra note 17.

  34. 34.

    Ibid.

  35. 35.

    Ibid., at 227.

  36. 36.

    Ibid., at 228 (emphasis added).

  37. 37.

    Ibid.

  38. 38.

    Ibid.

  39. 39.

    Ibid., at 230.

  40. 40.

    Supra note 10 at 54.

  41. 41.

    Ibid.

  42. 42.

    Ibid.

  43. 43.

    United Nations (1948). Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide. Available at: https://www.un.org/en/genocideprevention/documents/atrocity-crimes/Doc.1_Convention%20on%20the%20Prevention%20and%20Punishment%20of%20the%20Crime%20of%20Genocide.pdf

  44. 44.

    Supra note 18 at 39.

Further Reading

  • You can read Raphael Lemkin’s original piece on genocide available online:

    Google Scholar 

  • Lemkin, R. (1946). Genocide. American Scholar, 15(2), 227–230 Available at http://pscourses.ucsd.edu/poli120n/Lemkin1946.pdf.

    Google Scholar 

  • Samantha Power provides a detailed description of Lemkin and his quest to see an international law against genocide achieved: Power, S. (2002). “A problem from hell”: America and the age of genocide. New York: Harper Perennial. See chapters 2, 3, and 4.

    Google Scholar 

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Endicott College, Beverly, MA, USA

    William R. Pruitt

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  1. William R. Pruitt
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Correspondence to William R. Pruitt .

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Pruitt, W.R. (2021). What Is Genocide?. In: An Introduction to the Criminology of Genocide . Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-65211-1_1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-65211-1_1

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