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Scott Straus

The Order Of Genocide: Race, Power, And War In Rwanda

In "The Order of Genocide: Race, Power, and War in Rwanda," Scott Straus provides a comprehensive and meticulously researched analysis of the 1994 Rwandan genocide. Straus, a political scientist and genocide scholar, explores the social, political, and historical factors that contributed to the mass violence that resulted in the deaths of an estimated 800,000 Tutsi and moderate Hutu civilians in just 100 days. One of the book's key contributions is its focus on the local level dynamics of the genocide. Straus conducted extensive fieldwork in Rwanda, interviewing survivors, perpetrators, and other witnesses to the violence. He uses this firsthand evidence to challenge the conventional wisdom that the genocide was solely the result of top-down orders from the government. Instead, Straus argues that the genocide was the product of a complex interplay between national-level policies and local-level social and political dynamics. Straus also examines the role of race and power in the genocide, arguing that the violence was not simply a result of ancient ethnic hatreds, but rather the product of a long history of racialization and discrimination against the Tutsi minority. He shows how the colonial and post-colonial Rwandan state created and reinforced racial categories, which were then used to justify discrimination and violence against the Tutsi. Another important contribution of the book is its examination of the international community's response to the genocide. Straus argues that the international community, particularly the United Nations, failed to take effective action to stop the violence, and that this failure was due in part to a lack of understanding of the local-level dynamics of the genocide. Overall, "The Order of Genocide" is a powerful and important book that provides a nuanced and comprehensive understanding of the Rwandan genocide. It is a must-read for anyone interested in genocide studies, African politics, or human rights. Straus's analysis of the local level dynamics, the role of race and power, and the international community's response to the genocide, offers a new perspective on the causes and consequences of mass violence...