Introduction

The US is the most violent country in the world. It has been engaged in various levels of conflict almost continuously since the Genocide Convention entered into force. The US has overthrown elected leaders, supported genocidal governments, and initiated wars of aggression. The US is directly responsible or shares responsibility for the deaths of millions of people. Yet, the US has largely been excluded as a focus of genocide studies. There are three interconnected and mutually reinforcing reasons for this: the definitions of genocide that scholars use; the cases that they select for analysis; and the existence of a culture of impunity.