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Introduction

The Problems of Genocide

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  07 January 2021

A. Dirk Moses
Affiliation:
University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill
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Summary

Genocide is a problem in two ways: not only the terrible fact of mass death, but also how the relatively new idea and law of genocide organizes and distorts our thinking about civilian (that is, noncombatant) destruction. Taking the normative perspective of civilian immunity from military attack that international law and norms ostensibly prioritize, this book argues that their implicit hierarchy, atop which sits genocide as the “crime of crimes,” blinds us to other types of humanly caused civilian death, like bombing cities and the “collateral damage” of missile and drone strikes, blockades, and sanctions. In other words, talk of genocide functions ideologically to detract attention from systematic violence against civilians perpetrated by governments, including Western ones. The Problems of Genocide also contends that this violence is the consequence of “permanent security” imperatives: the striving of states, and armed groups seeking to found states, to make themselves invulnerable to threats. Permanent security is the unobtainable goal of absolute safety that necessarily results in civilian casualties by its paranoid tendency to indiscriminate violence. To solve the problem of genocide concealing permanent security, this book proposes replacing the former with the latter: permanent security should be illegal.

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Chapter
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The Problems of Genocide
Permanent Security and the Language of Transgression
, pp. 1 - 46
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2021

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  • Introduction
  • A. Dirk Moses, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill
  • Book: The Problems of Genocide
  • Online publication: 07 January 2021
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781316217306.002
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Save book to Dropbox

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Dropbox.

  • Introduction
  • A. Dirk Moses, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill
  • Book: The Problems of Genocide
  • Online publication: 07 January 2021
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781316217306.002
Available formats
×

Save book to Google Drive

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

  • Introduction
  • A. Dirk Moses, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill
  • Book: The Problems of Genocide
  • Online publication: 07 January 2021
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781316217306.002
Available formats
×