About the project
This project attempted to sum up achievements and omissions within the field of comparative genocide studies since it was established in the early 1990s. The project explored the following issues: (1) The relationship between Holocaust and genocide studies, (2) debates about the definition of genocide, (3) the application of comparative methods, (4) institutional development, (5) the prevention of genocide.
The project concluded that comparative genocide studies have not fully explored the field’s interdisciplinary potential. On the contrary, historians, legal scholars and social scientists seem incapable of reaching agreement on almost any aspect of genocide. Nor has the academic community managed to agree on a definition of genocide – proposing an alternative terminology instead. However, the introduction of many new terms and concepts has brought little clarity to the debate. The discussion has migrated to a pseudoscientific level at the expense of empirical research. There are few comparative studies that successfully combine theory and empirical evidence. The field has also failed to arrive at a set of guidelines for the prevention of genocide – which is often highlighted as its primary objective. At the same time, the emphasis on the crime of genocide has unintentionally diverted attention away from mass murder, a crime that occurs much more frequently. The project concluded that although the field of study found itself in crisis, this had never been acknowledged within the wider academic community.
Results
The project’s results were presented in: Anton Weiss-Wendt, Problems in Comparative Genocide Studies in: Dan Stone (Ed.), The Historiography of Genocide, Houndmills, 2008: 42–70.