Martin Shaw International Genocide Summary

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Returning to the article “From comparative to international genocide studies: The international production of genocide in 20th-century Europe” Shaw continues to beg the question, “What is ‘international’ about genocide?” Interestingly enough, Shaw uncovers how the ‘international’ is vital to genocide conceptualization given that it hinges on the acceptance of the modern Westphalian State System and its values/binaries (655). As a result, contemporary genocide is linked to the “nation” as opposed to “race” and ”empire” which are linked to the genocide in the colonial context. This builds upon the discourse by Moses, Teschke, and Levene who have assessed genocide through IR state system theory and evolution, that have left Shaw wondering, “how have IR in general changed over time, and what are the relationships between these trends” (655)? Although the answer to Shaw’s question is beyond this paper, the critical imperative to understand genocide as situated beyond state centric, artificial constructions, that can possibly inform whether or not these “constructions” promote or prevent genocide is …show more content…

However, not only did he fail to address all three, there was no mention of the word “justice” even once, despite the fact that he acknowledges Leven’s claim that the international system of nation-states “... is itself a root cause of modern genocide” (Shaw 654). Martin Shaw understood the colonial pasts dependence and instrumentalization on “mega-genocides” and the legacies of contemporary statehood founded on blood, and yet, does not engage with the concept of enduring injustice and political memory where the connection from the past and modern issues surrounding genocide, statehood, and identity could be bridged and made

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