ABSTRACT
The individual perpetration of genocide occurs within an institutional context. This chapter argues that genocidal contexts are characterized by their institutionalization of harm against the victim group. Organizational structures encourage the moral disengagement of perpetrators from victims, while also establishing the power differential that makes genocide possible. This chapter explores the role of organizations in the perpetration of genocide by discussing, among other things, obedience to authority, conformity, civilian participation in genocide, and the socialisation of individuals in armed groups. Finally, it examines the scope of genocide – how genocide is implemented at the local level through violence specialists or the mass participation of civilians. The chapter concludes that state contributes to the framing of individual decision-making by externalizing responsibility, devaluing victims, and desensitizing perpetrators through the institutionalization of new moral habits.
