On the Path to Genocide

Deborah Mayersen is an historian, based at the University of Wollongong, Australia.  Her research expertise is in comparative genocide studies, including the Armenian genocide, Rwandan genocide and genocide prevention.  Her recent publications include the edited volumes The United Nations and Genocide (Palgrave Macmillan, 2016) and Genocide and Mass Atrocities in Asia: Legacies and Prevention (with Annie Pohlman, Routledge, 2013).

• AcknowledgementsIntroduction: ‘The Symptoms of an Explosive Situation’: The Temporal Model of GenocideTHE ARMENIAN GENOCIDEChapter 1.‘Trying Desperately to Escape History’: The Armenian QuestionChapter 2. ‘A Settled Plan to Slowly Exterminate’: The Hamidian MassacresChapter 3. ‘They will have to be Destroyed’: From Massacre to GenocideTHE RWANDAN GENOCIDEChapter 4. ‘A European under Black Skin’: Pre-colonial and Colonial RwandaChapter 5. ‘A Massive Rejection of the Tutsi as Fellow Nationals’: Race, Violence and IndependenceChapter 6. ‘A Cockroach gives birth to another Cockroach’: From Coexistence to ExterminationTHE PATH TO GENOCIDEChapter 7. ‘Driven by Ethnic Exclusivism’: On the Timing of GenocideChapter 8. ‘Our only Hope, therefore, rests on the Obstacle’: Constraints Against GenocideChapter 9. ‘A Pattern ... Repeated Numerous Times’: The Wider Applicability of the Temporal ModelConclusion: ‘We are all Brothers’: The Temporal Model and Genocide PreventionBibliographyIndex

“Mayersen has written a fine text… Ultimately, Mayersen concludes that genocides are ‘fundamentally preventable’ and offers insights into prevention.  The text is well organized, thoroughly researched, and brings to bear important new perspectives on genocide studies. – Highly recommended.”  ·  Choice“This is an excellent book. The combination of theory and context works well…The prose is sharp and the author has set up the problem in a logical way that is easy to follow.  It also benefits from an interdisciplinary approach.  Her grasp of detail is superior to many theorists…It reads very fluently, the author is clearly a gifted prose writer. The thread of argument runs through the book in a compelling way…The conclusion is full of intriguing ties to other case studies and the author summarizes her argument well.”  ·  Cathie Carmichael, University of East Anglia