The Path to Genocide in Rwanda
Security, Opportunity, and Authority in an Ethnocratic State

Uses unique field data to offer a rigorous explanation of how Rwanda's genocide occurred and why Rwandans participated in it.

Omar Shahabudin McDoom (Author)

9781108798327, Cambridge University Press

Paperback / softback, published 10 November 2022

437 pages
22.9 x 15.2 x 2.3 cm, 0.629 kg

'The book is dense with information and analysis that will greatly benefit genocide scholars, political scientists, and historians … It makes a significant contribution to the study of the Rwandan genocide, and libraries for advanced scholars should count it as an essential title for their collections. … Highly recommended.' C. Pinto, CHOICE

The shocking characteristics of Rwanda's genocide in 1994 have etched themselves indelibly on the global conscience. The Path to Genocide in Rwanda combines extensive, original field data with some of the best existing evidence to evaluate the myriad theories behind the genocide and to offer a rigorous and comprehensive explanation of how and why it occurred, and why so many Rwandans participated in it. Drawing on interviews with over three hundred Rwandans, Omar Shahabudin McDoom systematically compares those who participated in the violence against those who did not. He contrasts communities that experienced violence early with communities where violence began late, as well as communities where violence was limited with communities where it was massive. His findings offer new perspectives on some of the most troubling questions concerning the genocide, while also providing a broader engagement with key theoretical debates in the study of genocides and ethnic conflict.

1. What We Do and Do Not Know
2. An Extraordinary Baseline
3. Security: War-time Threat
4. Threat and Opportunity: The Dangers of Freedom
5. Opportunity II: Death of the Nation's Father
6. Authority: Rwanda's privatized and powerful state
7. Why some killed and others did not
8. Conclusion: Rwanda in Retrospect.

Subject Areas: African history [HBJH], Regional & national history [HBJ], General & world history [HBG], History [HB]