Preventing Mass Atrocities

What can be done to warn about and organize political action to prevent genocide and mass atrocities? The international contributors to this volume are either experts or practitioners, often both, who have contributed in substantial ways to analyzing high risk situations, recommending preventive policies and actions, and in several instances helping to organize remedial actions. Whereas current literature on the prevention of genocide is theoretically well grounded, this book explores what can be done, and has been done, in real-world situations. Recommendations and actions are rooted in a generation of experience, based on solid historical, comparative, and empirical research and with a grounding in quantitative methods. This volume examines historical cases to understand the general causes and processes of mass violence and genocide, and engages with ongoing genocidal crises including Darfur and Syria, as well as other forms of related violence such as terrorism and civil conflict. It will be key reading for all students and scholars of genocide, war and conflict studies, human security and security studies in general.

Barbara Harff is Professor of Political Science Emerita at the US Naval Academy and was distinguished visiting professor at Clark University's Strassler Center for Holocaust and Genocide Studies. She co-founded the Genocide Prevention Advisory Network and served for a decade on the US Government's State Failure (later Political Instability) Task Force. In 2013 she received the Raphael Lemkin Award from the Auschwitz Institute for Peace and Reconciliation. Ted Robert Gurr was Distinguished University Professor of Political Science (Emeritus) at the University of Maryland; Founder and Consultant of the Minority at Risk Project; Former Senior Consultant to the US Government's Political Instability Task Force; Former Olof Palme Visiting Professor, HSFR, Uppsala University.

1. Introduction [Barbara Harff ] 2. Genocides and Mass Atrocities: Can They Be Prevented? [Yehuda Bauer] Part 1: Risk Assessment, Early Warning, and Early Response 3. Countries at Risk of New Genocides and Politicides after 2016 - And Why [Barbara Harff] 4. Atrocity Crimes as a Disease: A Statistical Approach to Early Detection [Birger Heldt] 5. Early Prevention of Genocide and Mass Atrocities? Evidence from Conflict Analysis [Ted Robert Gurr] Part 2: Mobilizing International, Regional, and Local Responses 6. Ending the Silence on War Crimes: A Journalist's Perspective [Roy Gutman] 7. Preventing Mass Atrocities at the Local Level: Using Village Committees for Conflict Prevention in Mauritania [Ekkehard Strauss] 8. In the Absence of Will: Could Genocide in Darfur have been Halted or Mitigated? [Eric Reeves] 9. Atrocity Prevention from Obama to Trump [James P. Finkel] 10. Prevention through Political Agreements: The Community of Sant'Egidio and Central African Republic [Andrea Bartoli and Mauro Garofolo] 11. An African Regional Perspective on Prevention [Liberata Mulamula and Ashad Sentongo] 12. Roots of Ambivalence: The United Nations, Genocide, and Mass Atrocity Prevention [Edward C. Luck] 13. Who is in Charge? Emerging National and Regional Strategies for Prevention [Andrea Bartoli and Tetsushi Ogata] 14. Guidelines for Prevention of Genocides and other Mass Atrocities: An Overview [Ted Robert Gurr]