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2 results

  • Introduction to Volume I

  • Edited by Ben Kiernan, Yale University, Connecticut, T. M. Lemos, Huron University College, University of Western Ontario, Tristan S. Taylor, University of New England, Australia
  • General editor Ben Kiernan, Yale University, Connecticut
  • Book:
    The Cambridge World History of Genocide
    Published online:
    23 June 2023
    Print publication:
    04 May 2023, pp 31-56

  • Summary

    This Introduction to Volume I of The Cambridge World History of Genocide, which covers the ancient, medieval, and early modern worlds, raises questions about the nature of premodern genocide, about the meaning of genocide and genocidal intent in the premodern era, and about both perpetrators and victim groups, and about the scale, techniques, and ideologies of genocide in that long historical period in comparison to those of genocides committed in modern times. The chapter considers whether or not genocide can be considered a ‘transhistorical phenomenon’. It also asks whether mass violence in the pre-modern and early modern periods occurred in a different moral context than that of modern times, presenting some differing views on this question. Finally the chapter introduces the substantive chapters of the volume, and how they variously examine material, political, sociocultural, and ideological factors that contributed to premodern outbreaks of genocide, as well as noting some changes over time from prehistory to the early modern era.

  • Between Abstract Event and Individualized Crime: Genocidal Intent in the Case of Croatia

  • PAUL BEHRENS
  • Journal:
    Leiden Journal of International Law / Volume 28 / Issue 4 / December 2015
    Published online by Cambridge University Press:
    30 October 2015, pp. 923-935
    Print publication:
    December 2015

  • The International Court of Justice's (ICJ) decision in the case of Croatia v. Serbia raises fundamental questions about the nature of genocidal intent. While the Court was careful not to make a clear departure from established case law on the matter, its emphasis on elements such as ‘pattern’ and ‘scale’ – at the expense of the role of individual intent – indicates that the majority on the bench adopted an interpretation which brings the legal concept of genocide closer to an abstract event of mass atrocity than to an act capable of commission even by select individuals. That, however, is an understanding which is not only alien to the traditional interpretation adopted by international criminal tribunals, but also unjustifiable under the established law of state responsibility. This article considers various aspects in the judgment which invite critique in that regard, but also analyses the way in which the ICJ has dealt with the coexistence of intent and certain motives – a crucial aspect of the case which has already been object of some controversy.