Published: 5 July 2016
Last updated: 4 March 2024
When I first learned of this volume, I was immediately intrigued by its title: The Magnitude of Genocide. It is a topic on which I’ve often reflected. As Tatz and Higgins discuss, the scale of the Holocaust ‘beggars the imagination’ (p. 69), and it is all but impossible to comprehend – or communicate to students – this vast mass murder. Even today, more than seventy years later, the worldwide Jewish population has not recovered to its pre-Holocaust levels. At the opposite end of the scale, however, the term genocide ‘is often promiscuously deployed as an intensifier to inflate events that have nothing to do with it’ (pp.7-8). The issue of magnitude is an important component of understanding genocide.
The Holocaust is often considered the paradigmatic case of modern genocide, as Tatz and Higgins note (ch. 5). Yet the term genocide is used to cover vastly different events, of very different magnitudes. Tatz and Higgins explore this in their rich, comparative study of genocides from ancient to modern times. The volume covers not only the Holocaust, but numerous well-known and lesser-known examples of genocide. The major genocides of the past century or so are examined, such as the Armenian genocide, the Rwandan genocide and the killing in Cambodia, the former Yugoslavia and Darfur. More diverse examples that may be considered genocide include events in Tibet, the Nuba Mountains and East Timor. Importantly, the focus is not only historical; there is also discussion of the current genocidal violence being perpetrated by ISIS against the Yazidis and others.
One of the strengths of The Magnitude of Genocide is the vast historical knowledge Tatz and Higgins have brought to the project. In contrast to many volumes on genocide, there is a much broader focus than just the twentieth century. The authors explore the origins of genocide in ancient times. They analyse how the formation of the modern nation-state created the conditions in which genocide became more likely. They highlight the critical impact of ethnic conceptions of national belonging: ‘The ethnic nation typically imagines itself as the heir to a long and glorious ethnic past, and to a special destiny … The Young Turks’ genocide, the Holocaust and the genocides committed in the former Yugoslavia all have their mainsprings in post-imperial ethnic nationalism and state formation.’ (p.43) The role of racism also receives substantial attention. Here, Tatz and Higgins move deftly between analysis of colonial and more recent genocides, highlighting the common racist paradigms from which each emerged.
A substantial section of Magnitude is devoted to the aftermath of genocide. The chapter on denialism (ch.9) is particularly important. While Holocaust denial is ‘marginalized in the West’, it is ‘flourishing’ in the Middle East (p.162). Meanwhile Turkish denial of the Armenian genocide is ongoing. It is disturbing that, more than a century after this genocide, the Turkish republic continues to expend substantial resources on a denialist presentation of its genocidal past. As Tatz and Higgins note, ‘Its initiatives are in turn spectacular, often bizarre and insidious, and sometimes just silly’ (p. 165). For the Armenian, Assyrian and Greek communities whose forebears experienced genocide, however, Turkey’s position causes ongoing anguish.
The final section of Magnitude explores prospects for the decline of genocide, and efforts toward genocide prevention today. Many comparative volumes on genocide conclude with a fairly abstract, and often formulaic, final chapter on prevention. It was a pleasant surprise to find a very different style of analysis here. Tatz and Higgins focus on the current genocidal violence being perpetrated by ISIS, presenting an impassioned polemic on the causes and prospects for the conflict. They focus the role of the West in creating the circumstances under which ISIS has flourished, through its strategic blunders in the Middle East. Indeed, they go so far as to suggest that ‘[t]he West must shoulder a lion’s share of the responsibility for this conflagration’ (p.227).
The passion is admirable, although at times I would have preferred a more measured tone and a stronger focus on evidence over argument. While the description of bin Laden’s killing as ‘a gratuitous extrajudicial killing of an unarmed individual’ (p.235) may be technically correct, for example, I was unconvinced that this topic merited discussion in a chapter on genocide prevention. Far more compelling are the calls for reinvigorating democratic processes and the ‘re-enthronement of Western values’ (p. 241). Tatz and Higgins conclude, as many genocide scholars have previously, that the task of preventing genocide is ultimately dependent on the political will of Western nations. (p. 241) Generating this political will, therefore, is crucial to meeting the commitments of the UN Genocide Convention to ‘prevent genocide’.
The Magnitude of Genocide is a valuable comparative study. The wide-ranging subject matter and strong contemporary relevance of the volume make it a compelling read. Tatz and Higgins have presented their arguments in engaging and accessible prose, creating a volume with great appeal for scholars, students and interested members of the public alike. Highly Recommended.
This The Jewish Independent article may be republished if acknowledged thus: ‘This article first appeared on www.thejewishindependent.com.au and is reprinted with permission.’
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