The Problems of Genocide
The Problems of Genocide: Permanent Security and the Language of Transgression is a 2021 book by Australian historian
Background
Content
Moses argues that genocide is not just a problem because of the human suffering inherent in the phenomenon, but also how the concept of genocide, because of its position as the "crime of crimes", "blinds us to other types of humanly caused civilian death, like
Moses introduces the concept of "permanent security", which is distinguished from other security imperatives by being anticipatory and characterized by a paranoid threat perception.
The third section of the book covers Holocaust memory and comparative genocide studies. Moses argues that the concept of genocide depoliticized earlier ways of talking about mass violence (the language of transgression), and the ongoing view of genocide as a depoliticized crime normalizes types of violence that cannot be analogized to the Holocaust.[13]
Reception
Sinja Graf praised the book as "written from an unrelenting concern for the sanctity of human lives" and "a landmark study that redefines perspectives on mass atrocities across political science, history, and international law".
Historian Omer Bartov described the book as "an erudite, complex, and in many parts quite fascinating read", but says that Moses fails to propose a viable alternative to the concept of genocide.[1] Some Holocaust historians accused Moses of promoting a conspiracy theory by which Raphael Lemkin, a major supporter for the inclusion of genocide in international law, was a Jewish exclusivist and only concerned regarding the Jews under Nazi rule.[7] However, according to Dan Stone, Moses' reading, although debatable, "is well within the norms of intellectual history"; furthermore, it is not the focus of the book.[7]
Security studies researcher Beatrice de Graaf says that the book is "crucially important in shattering consolidated legal, political scientific and historiographical positions on genocide, international law and security". Nevertheless, she is critical of Moses' conception of permanent security, arguing that he overlooks earlier work in historical and critical security studies exploring the totalizing instinct of state security in general, and his argument would be stronger if he covered the origins of the preventative security paradigm in Europe around 1800.[4] According to reviewer Ulrike von Hirschhausen, Moses ignores recent research on how indigenous people used the "language of transgression" to resist colonialism, and flattens the complicated reality of historical empires by presenting them as totalizing, when in fact these empires attempted to manage difference, not wipe it out.[16]
Furthermore, Moses' focus on security has recognized as a significant factor in incidents of genocidal violence, but is a
References
- ^ S2CID 245007530.
- ^ "A. Dirk Moses | Department of History". history.unc.edu. Retrieved 24 March 2022.
- ^ Moses 2021, pp. vii–viii.
- ^ hdl:1874/413905.
- S2CID 244109587.
- ^ S2CID 245008587.
- ^ a b c Stone, Dan (4 January 2022). "Paranoia and the Perils of Misreading". Fair Observer. Retrieved 22 March 2022.
- ^ Moses 2021, p. 1.
- .
- ^ a b Moses 2021, p. 37.
- ^ Moses 2021, p. 39–40.
- ^ Moses 2021, pp. 1, 42.
- ^ S2CID 246654450.
- S2CID 247017818.
- ^ https://issforum.org/roundtables/PDF/Roundtable-XXIV-26.pdf
- ^ S2CID 245007522.
Further reading
- Moses, A. Dirk (2021). The Problems of Genocide: Permanent Security and the Language of Transgression. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-1-009-02832-5.
- Hassellind, Filip Strandberg (2022). "The problems of genocide: permanent security and the language of transgression: by A. Dirk Moses, Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 2021, xi + 598 pp., $72.01 (hardback), ISBN: 9781107103580, $34.99 (paperback), ISBN: 9781107503120". Nordic Journal of Human Rights: 1–3. S2CID 249137408.
- Kourtis, Dimitrios A (2022). "A. Dirk Moses, The Problems of Genocide: Permanent Security and the Language of Transgression". Journal of Conflict and Security Law. 27 (2): 291–296. .
- Burzlaff, Jan; Roth, John K.; Weinke, Annette; Mann, Itamar; Dirk Moses, A. (2022). "Security, genocide, and the holocaust: a forum". Holocaust Studies. 29 (3): 317–340. S2CID 252611147.