The Politics of Annihilation: A Genealogy of Genocide

by Benjamin Meiches

How did a powerful concept in international justice evolve into an inequitable response to mass suffering? For a term coined just seventy-five years ago, genocide has become a remarkably potent idea. But has it transformed from a truly novel vision for international justice into a conservative, even inaccessible term? The Politics of Annihilation traces how the concept of genocide came to acquire such significance on the global political stage. In doing so, it reveals how the concept has been politically contested and refashioned over time. It explores how these shifts implicitly impact what forms of mass violence are considered genocide and what forms are not.  Benjamin Meiches argues that the limited conception of genocide, often rigidly understood as mass killing rooted in ethno-religious identity, has created legal and political institutions that do not adequately respond to the diversity of mass violence. In his insistence on the concept’s complexity, he does not undermine the need for clear condemnations of such violence. But neither does he allow genocide to become a static or timeless notion. Meiches argues that the discourse on genocide has implicitly excluded many forms of violence from popular attention including cases ranging from contemporary Botswana and the Democratic Republic of Congo, to the legacies of colonial politics in Haiti, Canada, and elsewhere, to the effects of climate change on small island nations.  By mapping the multiplicity of forces that entangle the concept in larger assemblages of power, The Politics of Annihilation gives us a new understanding of how the language of genocide impacts contemporary political life, especially as a means of protesting the social conditions that produce mass violence.

Genres: Politics

328 pages, Paperback

Published March 19, 2019

Reviews

[Anya · Rating 3 out of 5]

I enjoyed this. There was, at times, a tendency to lean into overly complex verbiage to explain something which I thought could have been more effectively described more simply, but once I got past those parts the rest of it was pretty enjoyable as a read. I think Meiches levels a pretty solid critique of what he calls the hegemonic understanding of genocide, and he is very much grounded in the real world, which is nice. I have found myself referring to this book (mentally and out loud) in classes and elsewhere, which is a sign that it offered something to me that I will take forward. Overall, not my favorite book I've ever read, but certainly one I'm glad I did read. The conclusion was particularly well done in the way of exploring the implications of the hegemonic understanding for the present and especially the future.

[Olive · Rating 1 out of 5]

Just skimmed most of it for an assignment for school but I am counting it because it bored me half to death and took as much brain power to read as 2 fiction novels.