This course is not currently offered, please contact the school or faculty of your program.

Course description

This course addresses issues of genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity from a comparative historical perspective. Taking a global perspective the course will investigate the historical reasons for the emergence of the crime of genocide in the modern era. It will consider the ideological, cultural, social, and economic causes of intense persecution, including, but not limited to, genocide according to strict legal definitions. It will look at the special place of indigenous peoples in debates about genocide. It will examine the moral issues involved in achieving justice for the victims of genocide as well as attempts to achieve reconciliation between victims and perpetrators in societies recovering from intense violent conflict. Finally it will study international attempts to anticipate and prevent genocide, and the tension between the principle of national sovereignty and "humanitarian intervention".