The Zoryan Institute

Genocide and Human Rights University Program

Summer 2024: July 29-August 9, 2024

Day 1: Monday, July 29, 2024

Introductions 9:00-
10:00 am
● Introductory remarks from K.M. Greg Sarkissian (President) of the International
Institute for Genocide and Human Rights Studies (A Division of the Zoryan
Institute)
● Program overview and directives from Program Coordinator of the International
Institute for Genocide and Human Rights Studies (A Division of the Zoryan
Institute)
● Introductory remarks from Joyce Apsel (Course Director)
● Student introductions

Break 10:00 -
10:15 am

Rules & Foundations for the GHRUP 10:15-

11:00 am

Unit 1 – Development and Analysis of Human Rights Links to 11:00 - 1:00

pm
Humanitarianism (Prof. Joyce Apsel) Virtual
● What are human rights? Where do they come from? Who gives them? What are
some of their religious and philosophical foundations?
● Tracing the contested history of human rights from ancient times through the
Western Enlightenment to the modern era.
● Was there a modern human rights revolution and what norms and institutions
became central to its development?
● The Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) 1948: creating a legal
basis for rights.
● How does Freeman link the politics of human rights and humanitarianism with
issues of globalization, poverty and development?
● Re-evaluation and Critique: human rights as western construct and contested
discourse of the inevitable, progressive “triumph” of human rights
● Ongoing gap between affirmation of basic rights and severe violations. The
relationship between human rights and genocide.
● “Do no Harm”— the challenges of humanitarianism and the role of NGOs.
REQUIRED READINGS
 ● Read: www.un.org: “The Universal Declaration of Human Rights"1948 &
“Declaration on the Right to Development” (1986)
● Craig Calhoun, “The Imperative To Reduce Suffering: Charity, Progress, and
Emergencies in the Field of Humanitarian Action,” in Michael Barnett and
Thomas G. Weiss, eds., Humanitarianism In Question: Politics, Power, Ethics
(Ithaca, NY: Cornell UP, 2008), pp. 73-97.
● Mary B. Anderson, “You Save My Life Today, But for What Tomorrow? Some
Moral Dilemmas of Humanitarian Aid,” in Jonathan Moore, ed. Hard Choices:
Moral Dilemmas in Humanitarian Intervention (Lanham, MD: Rowman &
Littlefield Publishers, 1998), pp. 137-156.
● Michael A. Freeman, Human Rights: An Interdisciplinary Approach, Chapters
1-3.
● Michael A. Freeman, Human Rights: An Interdisciplinary Approach, Chapters
7-9.

RECOMMENDED READINGS

● Costas Douzinas, Human Rights and Empire: The Political Philosophy of

Cosmopolitanism (Milton Park, Abingdon: Routledge-Cavendish, 2007).
● Bonny Ibhawoh, Human Rights in Africa (Cambridge, Cambridge UP, 2018)
● Michael Barnett, ed. Humanitarianism and Human Rights: A World of
Difference? (Cambridge, UK, Cambridge UP, 2020).

Lunch 1:00 pm -
2:00 pm

Unit 1 continued. Prof. Alex Alvarez 2:00 pm -

3:45 pm
ACTIVITY
Break 3:30-
3:45 pm

Unit 1 continued. Prof. Alex Alvarez 3:45 pm -

5:00 pm

Day 2: Tuesday, July 30, 2024

Unit 2 – Introduction to Genocide (Prof. Alex Alvarez & Prof. 9:30-

11:00 am
Joyce Apsel)

● Brief overview of genocide in history, from ancient times to the present.

“Seeing” and “Studying” Mass Targeted Violence against Civilian Populations.
● What is genocide? What is the relationship between human rights and genocide?
 ● How can one define genocide? Why are there so many different definitions?
What is the effect of this?
● The UN definition of genocide and destruction by attrition. Origins, criticisms.
● What is Genocide Studies? What case studies are included? Excluded?
Emphasized? What theories of genocide have been developed?
● What is a “group?” What groups are included under the Genocide Convention?
The significance and reinterpretations of the issues of groups, intent and
destruction as total and in part.
● How does genocide differ from other types of mass violence, such as atrocity
crimes, massacres, war crimes, crimes against humanity? Related terminology:
ethnic cleansing, massacres, politicide, extremely violent societies, etc. What are
the differences and their significance?
● What factors, from scarcity to environment to reordering populations, contribute
to our understanding the nature of genocidal societies?
● What is the relationship between war and genocide?
● From slavery to settler colonialism to subaltern genocides and structural
violence how has genocide and atrocity crimes been situated in the continuum of
violence? Significance?

REQUIRED READING

● Adam Jones, "Origins of Genocide," in Genocide: A Comprehensive

Introduction. Third edition (London and New York: Routledge, 2017), pp. 3-51.
Read: www.un.org Convention on Prevention & Punishment of Genocide.

Break 11:00-
11:15 am
Unit 2 Continued. 11:15 am-
1:00 pm
Lunch 1:00pm-
2:00 pm
Unit 3 - Theories of Genocide (Prof. Maureen Hiebert) Virtual 2:00pm-
3:30 pm
An introduction to and analysis of some of the main theoretical explanatory models of
genocide: elite, social psychology, political culture, regimes, ideology, modernization,
collective identity construction. This unit also explores the goals of comparative
analysis, controversies regarding comparison, and methodologies of comparison.

REQUIRED READINGS:

● Uğur Ümit Üngör, “Studying Mass Violence: Pitfalls, Problems and Promises.”
Genocide Studies and Prevention 7, no. 1 (2012): 68-80.
● Hiebert, Maureen S. “Questioning Boundaries: What's Old and What's New in
Comparative Genocide Theory.” In: Genocide Matters: Ongoing Issues and
Emerging Perspectives (Routledge, 2013), edited by Joyce Apsel and Ernesto
Verdeja, 16-41.
● Dan Stone, “The Historiography of Genocide: Beyond ‘Uniqueness’ and Ethnic
Competition". Rethinking History 8, no. 1 (March 2004): 127-142.
 ● Dirk Moses, "The Problems of Genocide," Law Log, WZB Center for Global
Constitutionalism (June 2020), at:
https://lawlog.blog.wzb.eu/2020/06/18/the-problems-of-genocide
● Gary King, Robert Keohane, Sidney Verba, Designing Social Inquiry (Princeton:
Princeton University Press, 1994), Chapter 2, “Descriptive Inference”, pp. 34-75

Break 3:30-3:45
pm
Unit 3 continued. 3:45-5:00
pm

Day 3: Wednesday, July 31, 2024

Unit 4– The Armenian Genocide (Prof. Suren Manukyan) 9:00-

11:00 am
● Western Armenians in the Ottoman Empire: Deprivation of rights, reform
attempts, and the emergence of the national question.
● Why genocide? Young Turks and the Armenian elite. How revolution changed
societal equilibrium.
● World War I as a catalyst. Examining the ideology of pan-Turkism and its
impact.
● Understanding the mechanisms of genocide: The stages and methods of murder.
Killing the bodies and killing the identity.
● The hierarchy of perpetrators: Pashas, bureaucracy, and crowd.
● International responses: Evaluating the recognition of the genocide as a crime
against humanity and civilization, and considering Germany's complicity.
● International response. The concept of Crime against humanity and civilization.
Complicity of Germany.
● Post-genocide society: Analyzing the challenges and processes involved in
reconstructing the Armenian nation.
● International politics and genocide. “Who today remembers the Armenians?” Is
the process of international recognition important?
● Understanding denial as the final stage of genocide and strategies for combating
it effectively.

REQUIRED READINGS

● Ugur Ümit Üngör, The Armenian Genocide, 1915, The Holocaust and Other
Genocides: An Introduction (ed.by Wichert ten Have and Barbara Boender),
Amsterdam: NIOD Institute for War, Holocaust and Genocide Studies and
Amsterdam University Press, 2012, pp. 44-70
● Rouben P. Adalian, The Armenian Genocide, Centuries of Genocide. Essays and
Eyewitness Accounts (ed.by Samuel Totten, William S. Parsons), Routledge,
2012, pp.117-155
● Vahakn N. Dadrian, Genocide as a problem of national and international law:
The World War I Armenian case and its contemporary legal ramifications, Yale
Journal of International Law, 14(2), (1989), pp.221–334.

RECOMMENDED READINGS
 ● Robert Melson, Revolution and Genocide: On the Origins of the Armenian
Genocide and the Holocaust. University of Chicago Press, 1992, pp.43-69
● Bedross Der Matossian, Shattered Dreams of Revolution: From Liberty to
Violence in the Late Ottoman Empire, Stanford: Stanford University Press, 2014,
pp. 23-48; 73-95.
● Raymond Kévorkian, The Armenian Genocide: A Complete History. New York:
I.B. Tauris, 2011, pp.289-317
● Katharine Derderian, Common fate, different experience: Gender- specific
aspects of the Armenian genocide, 1915–1917, Holocaust and Genocide Studies,
19 (1) (2005), 1–25.
● Taner Akçam, From Empire to Republic: Turkish Nationalism and the Armenian
Genocide, London: Zed Books, 2004, pp. 180-207

Break 11:00-11:1
5 am
Unit 4 continued. 11:15-1:00
pm
Lunch 1:00 – 2:00
pm
Unit 4 continued. 2:00 – 3:30
pm
Break 3:30-3:45
pm
Unit 4 continued. 3:45-5:00
pm

Day 4: Thursday, August 1, 2024

Unit 5 – The Holocaust (Prof. Doris Bergen and Barry 9:00-11:00

am
Ttrachtenberg)

Introduction: Integrated histories and a human timeline.

REQUIRED READINGS:

● Doris Bergen, "Studying the Holocaust: Is History Commemoration," in The

Holocaust and Historical Methodology, ed. Dan Stone (2012) [pdf attached]
● Edward Kissi, Tom Lawson, Ulrike Lindner, and Mirjam Zadoff, "Roundtable,"
in Colonial Paradigms of Violence: Comparative Analysis of the Holocaust,
Genocide, and Mass Killing, ed. Michelle Gordon and Rachel O'Sullivan (2022)
[pdf attached]
● Molly Applebaum, Buried Words: The Diary of Molly Applebaum (2016) [pdf
attached]

RECOMMENDED READINGS:

● Doris Bergen, “Key Themes in Holocaust History,” in Essentials of Holocaust

Education: Fundamental Issues and Approaches, ed. by Samuel Totten and
Stephen Feinberg (New York: Routledge, 2016), 17-33.
Break 11:00-11:1
5 am
Unit 5 continued. 11:15
am-1:00
pm
Lunch 1:00-2:00
pm
Unit 5 continued. 2:00-3:45
pm
Break 3:45-4:00
pm
Making Connections (Prof. Alex Alvarez) 4:00-5:00
pm

Day 5: Friday, August 2, 2024

Unit 6– Indigenous Peoples of North America (Prof. Kerri Malloy) 9:00-11:00

pm
Accompanying the growth of the Land Back movement is an interrogation of the role of
dispossession of Indigenous peoples and the applicability of genocide during the
formation of Canada and the United States. In this unit, dispossession will be analyzed
using definitions of genocide, critical place, and transitional justice studies to complicate
the narrative of Western expansion and the suitability of reconciliation processes.

REQUIRED READINGS:

● Gregory D. Smithers, “Rethinking Genocide in North America,” in The Oxford

Handbook of Genocide Studies (2010), p. 322-341
● Ned Blackhawk, “The Centrality of Dispossession: Native American Genocide
and Settler Colonialism,” in The Cambridge World History of Genocide, Volume
II, (2023), p. 23-45
● Andrew Woolford and Jeff Benvenuto, “Canada and Colonial Genocide,” Journal
of Genocide Research, 17, 4 (2015).
● Walter R. Echo-Hawk, “Was Genocide Legal?” in In the Courts of the
Conqueror: The 10 Worst Indian Law Cases Ever Decided, (2010), p. 399-420
● National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls,
"Supplementary Report on Genocide" (2019).
● Kerri J. Malloy, “Remembrance and Renewal at Tuluwat: Restoring the Center of
the World” in Remembrance and Forgiveness: Global and Interdisciplinary
Perspectives on Genocide and Mass Violence, (2020), p 20-33.
● Andrew Woolford. “Decolonizing Genocide” in Routledge Handbook on
Decolonizing Justice, (2023), p. 423-433.

RECOMMENDED READINGS:

● Adam Jones, “Genocides of Indigenous Peoples” in Genocide: A Comprehensive

Introduction, (2017), p. 147-199.
 ● Tasha Hubbard, "Buffalo Genocide in Nineteenth-Century North America: 'Kill,
Skin, Sell'" in Colonial Genocide in Indigenous North America, (2014), p.
292-305.

Break 11:00-11:1
5 am
Unit 6 continued. 11:15-1:00
pm
Lunch 1:00-
2:00 pm
Unit 7 – Genocide in Rwanda (Prof. Elisabeth King) 2:00 – 3:30
pm
The case study of Rwanda will be divided into two sections. In the first part, we will
examine the pre-genocide period and the genocide itself. We will discuss the causes of the
genocide and critically consider what we know, how we know it, and what we still might
not know by thinking about research and approaches to research on genocide in Rwanda.
In the second part, we will examine the post genocide period and the challenges that face
Rwanda in 2024, 30 years after the genocide. We will focus on post-genocide policies in
regard to ethnicity and the narrative of the genocide.

Readings:

● King, Elisabeth. 2014. From Classrooms to Conflict in Rwanda. New York:

Cambridge University press, pp. 1-3, 16-20.
● King, Elisabeth. 2010. “Memory controversy in post genocide Rwanda:
implications for peace building” in Genocide Studies and Prevention. 5(3):
293–308.
● Strauss, Scott. 2006. The order of genocide: race, power, and war in Rwanda.
Ithaca: Cornell University Press, pp.7-14, 17-40, 153-65, 172-74.

Break 3:30-3:45
pm
Unit 7 continued. 3:45-5:00p
m

Day 6: Monday, August 5, 2024

Unit 8 – International Law and Genocide (Prof. William Schabas) 9:00 –

11:00 am
Development of the legal concept of genocide:
● Raphael Lemkin
● International Military Tribunal (Nuremberg).
● GA Resolution 96(I).
● 1948 Genocide Convention.
● The Eichmann trial.
● International Criminal Tribunals for former Yugoslavia/Rwanda.
● International Criminal Court.
● Commission of Inquiry on Darfur.
● Case law of the International Court of Justice.
 ● Contemporary allegations of genocide: Yazidis, Uyghur, Rohingya, Ukraine
conflict, Israel/Palestine conflict.

REQUIRED READINGS:

● Agreement for the Prosecution and Punishment of Major War Criminals of the
European Axis, and Establishing the Charter of the International Military Tribunal
(I.M.T.)
● Draft resolution on genocide presented to United Nations General Assembly.
● General Assembly Resolution 96(I).
● Convention on the Prevention & Punishment of the Crime of Genocide.
● A.-G. Israel v. Eichmann (District Court, Jerusalem) (excerpts).
● Revised and updated report on the question of the prevention and punishment of
the crime of genocide, Prepared by Mr. B. Whitaker.
● Crimes Against Humanity and War Crimes Act.
● Prosecutor v. Krstic, Judgment, 19 April 2004 (excerpts).
● Report of the International Commission of Inquiry on Darfur to the United
Nations Secretary-General.
● Declaration on Prevention of Genocide, Committee for the Elimination of Racial
Discrimination.
● International Court of Justice, Case Concerning the Application of the Crime of
Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide (Bosnia and Herzegovina v.
Serbia and Montenegro), Feb. 26, 2007.
● Bashir Arrest Warrant decision (read paras. 35-45, 110-205).
● Genocide Prevention Task Force, Preventing Genocide: A Blueprint for U.S.
Policymakers (Washington, DC: American Academy of Diplomacy, United
Holocaust Memorial Museum, and United States Institute of Peace, 2008), pp.
xxi-xxii.
● William Schabas, ‘Genocide and Ukraine: Do Words Mean What We Choose
Them to Mean?’, (2022) Journal of International Criminal Justice 1-15.
● Interview with William Schabas on CBC Ideas
● Nuremberg Principles Academy lecture by William Schabas on 75th anniversary
of Genocide Convention
● Expert legal opinion by William Schabas in Centre for Constitutional Rights v.
Biden et al.
● Intervention by Canada et al. in Gambia v. Myanmar

Break 11:00-
11:15 am
Unit 8 continued. 11:15-1:30
pm
Lunch 1:30- 2:45
pm
Unit 9 – Geo-Politics and Genocide (Prof. James Tyner) Virtual 2:45-4:45
pm
Geopolitics, broadly defined, relates to the practice of statecraft within and between
foreign governments. By examining geopolitical relations, we can better understand the
political economy of genocide and how this informs our understanding of mass violence.
Accordingly, this unit, with an emphasis on the Cambodian genocide, provides an
introduction to the study of geopolitics and genocide. In doing so, we will discuss the
varied and contested meanings of geopolitics, different geo-political systems, and how
geopolitics may help our understanding of contemporary genocides.

REQUIRED READINGS:

● “The Apathy of Empire: Cambodia in American Geopolitics,” (University of

Minnesota Press, 2024) - FORTHCOMING

Making Connections (Prof. Alex Alvarez) 4:45-5:00

pm

Day 7: Tuesday, August 6, 2024

Unit 10 - Gender and Genocide (Prof. Amy Randall) Virtual 9:00 –

11:00 am
Genocide is a deeply gendered process. By examining the gendered dimensions of the
crime, we can gain important insights into its roots, proximate causes, patterns, long-term
impact, and prevention. In this unit, we will use various case studies to discuss the
implications of gendered research for the definition of the crime; the interpretation of
genocidal ideologies, perpetrator behavior, and victim experiences; the development of an
early warning system; approaches to restitution and social healing after the fact; and the
long-term prevention of the crime.

REQUIRED READINGS:

● Elisa von Joeden-Forgey, "Women and the Herero Genocide," Ch. 3 in Elissa
Bemporad and Joyce Warren (eds), Women and Genocide: Victims, Survivors,
Perpetrators (Indianapolis: Indiana University Press, 2018), 36-57
● Elisa von Joeden-Forgey, "Beyond the Binaries: Gender and the Future of
Genocide Studies and Prevention," in Amy Randall (ed), Gender and Genocide in
the Twentieth Century (London: Bloomsbury, 2022)
● Andrea Smith, Conquest: Sexual Violence and American Indian Genocide (New
York: South End Press, 2005), Ch. 1, “Sexual Violence as a Tool of Genocide”
7-33.

Break 11:00-11:1
5 am
Unit 10 continued. 11:15 –
1:00 pm
Lunch 1:00 – 2:00
pm
Unit 11 – Genocide Denial (Prof. Jennifer Dixon) 2:00 - 2:30

This unit and the assigned readings introduce conceptual and analytical frameworks for
thinking about genocide denial and related phenomena, including silencing, mythmaking,
and appropriation. We will discuss why states silence and deny past atrocities, the
rhetorical forms and strategies states employ in doing so, and some of the consequences of
such denial. The readings and discussion will emphasize the macro-political dimensions of
genocide denial, including the international context.

REQUIRED READINGS:[161 pp. in total]:

● Jennifer M. Dixon, Introduction and Chapter 1, Dark Pasts: Changing the State’s
Story in Turkey and Japan (Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 2018), pp. 1-11 and
14-31. [30 pp.] [These chapters introduce conceptual and analytical frameworks
for studying states’ narratives of past atrocities, including the denial and silencing
of, and mythmaking about, dark pasts. While the focus in these chapters is not
solely on denial, the explanatory framework sheds light on motivations behind
states’ denials of genocide and other atrocities.]
● Jennifer M. Dixon, “Rhetorical Adaptation and Resistance to International
Norms,” Perspectives on Politics, vol. 15, no. 1 (March 2017), pp. 83-99. [11 pp.]
[This article analyzes the rhetoric of denial in relation to international normative
expectations.]
● Stanley Cohen, “Government Responses to Human Rights Reports: Claims,
Denials, and Counterclaims,” Human Rights Quarterly, vol. 18 (1996), pp.
517-543. [27 pp.] [This article systematically analyzes a range of government
responses – including several different types of denial – to criticisms of states’
human rights practices by international human rights organizations.]
● Jelena Subotić, “The Politics of Holocaust Remembrance after Communism,” in
Yellow Star, Red Star: Holocaust Remembrance after Communism (Ithaca: Cornell
University Press, 2019), pp. 17-44. [28 pp.] [This chapter discusses the
appropriation of Holocaust memory in Eastern Europe, shedding light on forms of
and motivations behind denial and related phenomena.]
● Elisabeth King, “Memory Controversies in Post-Genocide Rwanda: Implications
for Peacekeeping,” Genocide Studies and Prevention, vol. 5, no. 3 (December
2010), pp. 293-309. [13 pp.] [This article turns to the effects of official narratives
on individuals and collectivities. It explores disjunctures between official and
individual memories of the Rwandan Genocide, highlighting individual and
collective effects of hegemonic memory construction in the aftermath of
genocide.]
● Elazar Barkan and Ariella Lang, “Mapping Memory Laws,” in Elazar Barkan and
Ariella Lang, eds., Memory Laws and Historical Justice: The Politics of
Criminalizing the Past (Palgrave Macmillan, 2022), pp. 1-21. [21 pp.] [This
chapter explores the forms of and motivations behind memory laws, some of
which are intended to fight genocide denial and others of which are forms of
genocide denial.]
● Adam T. Smith, “Unseeing the Past: Archaeology and the Legacy of the Armenian
Genocide,” Current Anthropology, vol. 63, supplement 25 (2022), pp. S56-S90.
[31 pp.] [This article documents structural consequences of Turkey’s denial of the
Armenian Genocide, focusing on the government’s intentional erasure of evidence
of Armenian communities in Anatolia and the cooperation of the international
field of archaeology in this silencing.]

Break 3:30 - 3:45

pm
Unit 11 continued. 3:45 – 5:00
pm
Day 8: Wednesday, August 7, 2024

Unit 12 – Psychology of Genocide (Prof. James Waller) 9:00 –

11:00 am
This unit will provide an introduction to, and analysis of the psychological causes of
large-scale conflict with a particular focus on the role of social identity theory. In our
century, the questions that fill people with emotion are “Who are we?” and, more
ominously, “Who are we not?” Social identity theory helps us understand the strength of
group memberships and the ways in which social identity matters as a source of intergroup
conflict. The violence of large-scale conflict is multi-directional and one of those
directions can be genocidal. Genocidal conflict, in particular, is most often identity-based.
This unit also explores the psychology of perpetrator behavior by unpacking the process by
which ordinary people become capable of committing genocide and atrocity crimes.
Central to that exploration are the implications of the research for genocide and atrocity
crimes prevention.

REQUIRED READINGS:

● James E. Waller, The Ordinariness of Extraordinary Evil: The Making of

Perpetrators of Genocide and Mass Killing. In O. Jensen & C. W. Szejnmann
(Eds.) Ordinary People as Mass Murderers: Perpetrators in Comparative
Perspectives. Palgrave MacMillan, 2008.
● James E. Waller, A Troubled Sleep: Risk and Resilience in Contemporary
Northern Ireland (pp. 25-35). Oxford University Press, 2021.

Break 11:00-11:1
5 am
Unit 12 continued. 11:15 am –
1:00 pm
Lunch 1:00 – 2:00
pm
Unit 13 –Legacies of Trauma from Atrocity (Prof. Athena Madan) 2:00 – 3:30
pm
This unit explores some of the economic, political, and psychosocial legacies of genocide
at individual-, group-and-family-, and societal-levels. Through interdisciplinary
perspectives and using case study vignettes, we will look at some of the gender-specific
considerations, intergenerational and collective traumas, and governance implications to
gain insights into the complex legacies of genocide.

Sign up for ONE of the readings through the Google for HERE.
Break 3:30 - 4:00
pm
Unit 13 continued. 4:00 - 5:00
pm
Day 9: Thursday, August 8, 2024

Unit 14: Genocide Prevention (Prof. Alexander Alvarez) 9:00 –

11:00 am

More than seventy years after the United Nation Genocide Convention defined genocide as
a crime under international and mandated its prevention and punishment, genocide remains
a significant problem on the world stage and genocide prevention an elusive goal. This
unit contextualizes and explores the theories, realities, and complexities of genocide
prevention, assesses, and critiques pre-existing strategies, and challenges us to reimagine
genocide prevention in terms of what we know about the etiology and nature of genocide
and what we understand about the obstacles to effective prevention.

REQUIRED READINGS

● Herbert Hirsch, “Preventing Genocide and Protecting Human Rights: A Failure

of Policy,” Genocide Studies International 8, no. 1 (Spring 2014): 1-22.
● Alexander Mayer-Rieckh, Karim Kamel, and Sabrina Stein, “Atrocity Prevention
In a Nutshell: Origins, Concepts, and Approaches,” Conflict Prevention and
Peace Forum, January 2016.
● Ervin Staub, “A World without Genocide: Prevention, Reconciliation, and the
Creation of Peaceful Societies,” Journal of Social Issues 69, no. 1 (2013):
180-199.
● Elisa von Joeden-Forgey, “Paths Not Traveled: Genocide Prevention, the Global
Grassroots, and the Power of Dialogism,” Genocide Studies International,
Volume 14, no. 1 (Spring 2022): 45-64.
RECOMMENDED READINGS

● The Responsibility To Protect: Report of the International Commission on

Intervention and State Sovereignty. Ottawa: International Development Research
Centre, 2001.
● Scott Straus, Fundamentals of Genocide and Mass Atrocity Prevention.
Washington, DC: United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, 2016.
● Henry C. Theriault, “The Albright-Cohen Report: From Realpolitik Fantasy to
Realist Ethics,” Genocide Studies and Prevention: An International Journal 4, no.
2 (2009). http://scholarcommons.usf.edu/gsp/vol4/iss2/11.

Break 11:00 –
11:15 am
Unit 14 continued. 11:15 –
1:00 pm
Lunch 1:00 – 2:00
pm
Unit 15: Looking Forward at Future Genocide and Mass Atrocity: 2:00 – 3:30
pm
Climate Change, Artificial Intelligence, and Non-Conventional
Warfare (Prof. Alvarez, Hiebert, Xu)
Alvarez
Climate change will challenge the ability of human communities to cope and adjust to the
stresses and strains imposed by a warming world. These challenges will be occurring in a
world in which authoritarianism has experienced a dramatic resurgence. This unit explores
the ways in which the stresses and strains imposed by climate change will increase the risk
for the development of communal and ethnic violence, war, and genocide and examines
the ways in which issues such as state failure, authoritarianism, resource scarcity, and
population displacement relate to xenophobia, prejudice, and intolerance and the etiology
and dynamics of collective violence, including and especially genocide.

REQUIRED READINGS

● Early Warning Project, “Countries at Risk For Mass Killing 2021-22: Statistical
Risk Assessment Results,” United States Holocaust Memorial Museum,
Simon-Skjodt Center For the Prevention of Genocide, Nov. 2021.
● International Committee of the Red Cross, “When Rain Turns to Dust:
Understanding and Responding to the Combined Impact of Armed Conflicts and
the Climate and Environmental Crisis on People’s Lives,” July 2020
● Department of Defense, Office of the Undersecretary for Policy (Strategy, Plans,
and Capabilities). 2021. Department of Defense Climate Risk Analysis. Report
Submitted to National Security Council.
RECOMMENDED READINGS

● Gary A. Haugen and Victor Boutros, The Locust Effect: Why the End of Poverty
Requires the End of Violence.
● Christian Parenti, Tropic of Chaos: Climate Change and the New Geography of
Violence (Nation Books, 2011)
● Alex Alvarez, Unstable Ground: Climate Change, Conflict, and Genocide
(Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield, 2017).

Hiebert

The future of humanity will see our current use of artificial intelligence (AI) driven by
increasingly sophisticated machine learning, robotics, and cyber capabilities explode in
ways that will likely dominate almost all aspects of our lives. This will include conflicts in
the physical and cyber domains among and within states, with both states and other armed
groups deploying these technologies in conflicts above and below the threshold of war. In
our discussion we will explore the kinds of autonomous weapon systems and technological
enhancement of human soldiers that are already being developed, what these systems
might look like in the near to medium future, how they may be deployed, and the ethical,
legal, and human rights implications of their development and use, including whether they
could facilitate atrocity prevention while at the same time providing genocidal actors with
new methods and means of group destruction.

REQUIRED READINGS

● Noel Sharkey, “The Evitability of Autonomous Robot Warfare,” International

Review of the Red Cross (Summer 2012) Vol. 94, No. 886, pp. 787-799
 ● Ashley Deeks, Noam Lubell, Daragh Murray, “Machine Learning, Artificial
Intelligence, and the Use of Force by States,” Journal of National Security Law
and Policy (2019) Vol. 10, pp. 1-25.
Xu

Since the end of the Second World War and the Cold War, non-conventional warfare,
especially insurgencies, have become the dominant method of armed conflict across the
world and this trend shows no sign of abating. In this context of intrastate violence, it is
important to understand how the interactions between state and non-state actors facilitate
the genocidal process. How have the state leveraged its asymmetric power in order to
counter what it perceives as an internal threat that can lead to genocidal outcomes? How
have the state decentralized violence to other non-state actors in order to engage in
genocidal acts against minority groups in the name of counterinsurgency and
counterterrorism? This unit explores the ways in which the changing nature of armed
conflict, as well as the international security environment have enabled the state to commit
mass violence as an exercise of sovereignty. Furthermore, it examines both the rhetoric
and mechanisms by which state and non-state actors engage in violence and genocide with
the view of consolidating state power.

REQUIRED READINGS

● Alex Alvarez, "Militias and genocide." War Crimes Genocide & Crimes against
Humanity. 2 (2006): 1-33.
● Joanne Smith Finley, "Why scholars and activists increasingly fear a Uyghur
genocide in Xinjiang." Journal of Genocide Research 23, no. 3 (2021): 348-370.
● Cheng Xu "Draining the Sea: Counterinsurgency as an Instrument of Genocide."
Genocide Studies International 12, no. 1 (2018): 6-25.

RECOMMENDED READINGS

● Ariel I. Ahram, "The role of state-sponsored militias in genocide." Terrorism and

political violence 26, no. 3 (2014): 488-503.
● Stathis N. Kalyvas, and Laia Balcells, "International system and technologies of
rebellion: How the end of the Cold War shaped internal conflict." American
Political Science Review 104, no. 3 (2010): 415-429.
● Rick Orth, "Rwanda's Hutu Extremist Genocidal Insurgency: An Eyewitness
Perspective." Small Wars and Insurgencies 12, no. 1 (2001): 76-109.
● Martin Shaw, "Darfur: counter‐insurgency, forced displacement and genocide."
The British journal of sociology 62, no. 1 (2011): 56-61.

Break 3:30 - 3:45

pm
Unit 15 Continued. 3:45 - 5:00
pm
Day 10: Friday, August 9, 2024
Student Evaluation Forms 9:00 –
10:00 am
Student Presentations 10:00 –
11:30 am
Break 11:30 –
11:45 am
Student Presentations 11:45 am –
1:00 pm
Lunch 1:00 -
2:00 pm
Student Presentations 2:00 -
3:30 pm
Break 3:30 -
3:35 pm
Student Presentations 3:35 -
5:00 pm