Genocide Prevention : An Evidence-Based Approach

This book is for scholars, students and practitioners interested in genocide prevention. Genocide has claimed tens of millions of lives in the modern age, yet it can be prevented. This book provides practical measures that can be taken to reduce the risk of genocide and contribute to building resilient societies.

It is a promising time for genocide prevention. Increasing amounts of research, and resources, have led to significant advances over the past two decades. Yet we still lack vital knowledge as to the most effective ways to stabilise and reduce the risk of genocide in current at-risk societies. This volume offers a compelling new approach: to understand how to prevent genocide, we need to examine societies in which genocide has been prevented. It is in these societies – in which a demonstrably high risk of genocide was present, but in which genocide did not occur – that we can potentially find key factors that promote resilience to genocide. The volume explores six such case studies, spanning three continents and seven decades. Through careful analysis it identifies eleven factors that have contributed to preventing genocide in multiple cases, and which have the potential to inform current approaches to prevention. Collectively, these offer a new, evidence-based approach to preventing genocide.