Génocide. Origines,enjeux et usages d'un concept

Abstract

Genocide. Origins, Challenges, and Applications of the Concept

After a long period of intellectual formation, the concept of genocide was introduced by Raphael Lemkin in 1944. It suffers, however, from the vagueness of the official definition established by the UN Convention in 1948. That is why this category of crime has been instrumentalized by widely different groups trying to be acknowledged as historical victims, whether these rights were real or not. Despite increasing controversy about problems of collective memory, the field of «genocide studies» has proven to be especially dynamic since the 1990s. The notion of «genocidal process» has become a focus of attention that allows the combination of anthropological, sociological and historical approaches. The question about the relation between genocide and war, which has become increasingly significant for historians, permits the conclusion that the First World War and the «minority question» led to a new sense of justice regarding «crimes against humanities». Although it may seem that Lemkin was influenced by the tragic fate of the Armenian and Jewish peoples, it is nonetheless necessary to discuss the genocidal character of other events, like colonial massacres, Stalinist policy, or ethnic cleansing.