Genocide: The concept and its debates from the Holocaust to colonial mass violence

Abstract

Since their emergence in the 1980s, genocide studies have debated the place of the Holocaust in the concept of genocide. Since the 2000s, younger genocide researchers have called for colonial violence to be integrated into the concept—not as a secondary form of “ethnocide,” but as an equivalent form of genocide. This article examines the discussion surrounding the Holocaust and colonial mass violence as genocides in the fields of law, political activism, genocide studies, and official genocide recognition policy by states.

Keywords

Genocide Holocaust History of mass violence International law International criminal law

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