A special kind of hate? The rhetoric of genocide

Abstract

This article uses a synthesis of existing literature and some exploratory analysis of speeches to advance theoretical understanding of the rhetoric ued by political and military elites to mobilise social groups for genocidal violence. We focus on three charsacteristics of genocidal rhetoric in the extant literature: ingroup / outgroup idenitification; ingroup-defense; and impurity and/or toxicity characterisations as a specific form of dehumanising rhetoric. Exploratory analysis of 13 speeches from 8 diverse cases of genocide during the twentieth century further uncovers an underexamined theme: foreign conspiracy and threat. Our review and exploratory analysis suggests more attention can usefully be paid to the potentially complex causal links between elite rhetoric and a particular eliminationist policy: genocide. This will benefit both social scientific understanding of genocide, and efforts for early warning and prevention. Show more