Ukraine and the Problems of Genocide

About

This course will discuss discourses of genocide in the Ukraine War and their connections to current academic debates on genocide, focusing on the arguments of Dirk Moses’ 2021 book The Problems of Genocide.

The first session will examine the role of Russian genocide claims in the justification of their aggression, the claims of Ukrainians and their supporters about Putin’s genocidal ideology, legal arguments on the inapplicability of genocide, and the scope of coherent social-scientific genocide analysis in the conflict. In so doing, the session will explore fundamental questions of genocide in a preliminary way, leading in the second session to a focused discussion on Moses’ argument that the genocide concept needs to be replaced by that of ‘permanent security’, including how well this stands up in the light of Ukraine. In addition to Moses’ book, the course will focus on Professor Shaw’s article on Ukraine (currently open access from the Journal of Genocide Research) and his unpublished paper on Moses’ book which will be made available to participants.

Course leader

Martin Shaw (IBEI-University of Sussex- University of Roehampton)

Target group

The IBEI Summer School in Global Politics and Policy is a program designed for graduate students and all those who have an interest in advanced knowledge of international security, international development and global politics issues. The objective is to offer different short courses on significant topics, taught by scholars and experts of international prestige. The School will enable participants to broadly discuss current developments in world politics in the light of core social-science and IR theories and perspectives.
Optionally, students may ask for an assessment in order to be able to obtain ECTS credits, provided they are recognized by their university. The 2023 edition of the IBEI Summer School in Global Politics and Policy is taking place in face to face format.

Course aim

The first session will examine the role of Russian genocide claims in the justification of their aggression, the claims of Ukrainians and their supporters about Putin’s genocidal ideology, legal arguments on the inapplicability of genocide, and the scope of coherent social-scientific genocide analysis in the conflict. In so doing, the session will explore fundamental questions of genocide in a preliminary way, leading in the second session to a focused discussion on Moses’ argument that the genocide concept needs to be replaced by that of ‘permanent security’, including how well this stands up in the light of Ukraine. In addition to Moses’ book, the course will focus on Professor Shaw’s article on Ukraine (currently open access from the Journal of Genocide Research) and his unpublished paper on Moses’ book which will be made available to participants.

Fee info