Mass killing is a concept which has been proposed by genocide scholars who wish to define incidents of non-combat killing which are perpetrated by a government or a state. A mass killing is commonly defined as the killing of group members without the intention to eliminate the whole group,[1] or otherwise the killing of large numbers of people without a clear group membership.[2]
Mass killing is used by a number of genocide scholars because genocide (its strict definition) does not cover mass killing events in which no specific ethnic or religious groups are targeted, or events in which perpetrators do not intend to eliminate whole groups or significant parts of them. Genocide scholars use different models in order to explain and predict the onset of mass killing events. There has been little consensus[3] and no generally-accepted terminology,[4] prompting scholars, such as Anton Weiss-Wendt,[5] to describe comparative attempts a failure.[6] Genocide scholarship rarely appears in mainstream disciplinary journals.[7]
- ^ Staub 1989, p. 8: "Mass killing means killing members of a group without the intention to eliminate the whole group or killing large numbers of people without a precise definition of group membership."
- ^ Staub 2011, p. 100: "In contrast to genocide, I see mass killing as 'killing (or in other ways destroying) members of a group without the intention to eliminate the whole group, or killing large numbers of people' without a focus on group membership."
- ^ Krain 1997.
- ^ Valentino 2004.
- ^ Stone 2008, p. 2.
- ^ Weiss-Wendt 2008.
- ^ Verdeja 2012.