Order of Genocide

Scott Straus is Professor of Political Science and International Studies at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. He is the author of Remaking Rwanda: State Building and Human Rights after Mass Violence and Intimate Enemy and the coauthor of Africa's Stalled Development.

• Introduction1. Background to the Genocide2. Genocide at the National and Regional Levels3. Local Dynamics4. The Génocidaires5. Why Perpetrators Say They Committed Genocide6. The Logic of Genocide7. Historical Patterns of Violence8. Rwanda's LeviathanConclusionAppendixIndex

The Order of Genocide will be an enduring contribution to our understanding of the Rwandan genocide as well as to theories of ethnic violence and genocides more generally. Although his methods and findings will certainly interest scholars of genocides, violent conflicts, and African area studies, Straus does not obscure his work in specialist language.(Nations and Nationalism) Scott Straus ranks among the finest of the scholars writing in genocide studies. The Order of Genocide is fair-minded, important, and rigorous. Drawing on more than two hundred interviews that he conducted with convicted Rwandan killers, and on many other sources, Straus builds a dynamic process model seeking to explain why and how ordinary people could be mobilized to murder their neighbors in the Rwandan genocide.(African Studies Review) Straus examines the 1994 Rwandan genocide through a social science lens... and his approach yields interesting new insights.... Particularly compelling is his comparison of killers in Rwanda with those of the Holocaust.(Foreign Affairs) Straus shows tenacity and courage in explaining the unthinkable—how otherwise ordinary people could imagine, conceive, and carry out genocide.(Genocide Studies and Prevention) Straus's study is comprehensive, thorough, and cogently and carefully argued. It is altogether an impressive work that is compulsory for specialists and invaluable for students. Straus is a former journalist and his writing is a model of clarity and economy.(Perspectives on Politics) Straus's writing is lucid, the structure of the book is well thought out, and jargon is avoided, making The Order of Genocide accessible to anyone interested in the subject. A must-read for those interested in politics and violence.(Journal of Peace Research)