ABSTRACT

What can be done to warn about and organize political action to prevent genocide and mass atrocities?

The international contributors to this volume are either experts or practitioners, often both, who have contributed in substantial ways to analyzing high risk situations, recommending preventive policies and actions, and in several instances helping to organize remedial actions. Whereas current literature on the prevention of genocide is theoretically well grounded, this book explores what can be done, and has been done, in real-world situations. Recommendations and actions are rooted in a generation of experience, based on solid historical, comparative, and empirical research and with a grounding in quantitative methods.

This volume examines historical cases to understand the general causes and processes of mass violence and genocide, and engages with ongoing genocidal crises including Darfur and Syria, as well as other forms of related violence such as terrorism and civil conflict. It will be key reading for all students and scholars of genocide, war and conflict studies, human security and security studies in general.

chapter 1|10 pages

Introduction

chapter 2|14 pages

Genocide and mass atrocities

Can they be prevented?

part I|46 pages

Risk Assessment, Early Warning, and Early Response

chapter 4|20 pages

Atrocity crimes as a disease

A statistical approach to early detection 1

chapter 5|11 pages

Preventing genocides and mass atrocities

Evidence from conflict analysis

part II|123 pages

Mobilizing International, Regional, and Local Responses

chapter 6|20 pages

Ending the silence on war crimes

72A journalist’s perspective

chapter 7|12 pages

Preventing mass atrocities at the local level

Using village committees for conflict prevention in Mauritania

chapter 8|8 pages

In the absence of will

Could genocide in Darfur have been halted or mitigated?

chapter 10|9 pages

Prevention through political agreements

The community of Sant’Egidio and the Central African Republic

chapter 11|12 pages

An African regional perspective on prevention

Experiences from the Great Lakes region

chapter 12|20 pages

Roots of ambivalence

The United Nations, genocide, and mass atrocity prevention

chapter 13|11 pages

Who is in charge?

Emerging national and regional strategies for prevention