Study Questions
Cox, Introduction

  1. What does the quote from Yehuda Bauer emphasize?

  2. Who coined the term “genocide” and worked tirelessly, until his death, to promote global adoption of the Genocide Convention?

  3. What are some of the problems with the UN definition that was adopted?
    What are some of the limitations of alternative definitions that Cox reviews?

  4. What does Cox favor about Fein’s and Jones’s versions?

  5. Why does the question of intent pose difficulties for genocide determination?

  6. What are the risks of having a) a too broad definition or b) a too narrow one?

  7. What is the fundamental problem regarding debates over the definition?

  8. Comment on Cox’s own definition. Does it have problems or limitations?

  9. What does Cox stress about non-genocidal atrocities?

  10. What are some examples of pre-20th century genocidal conflicts Cox mentions?

  11. What does Cox conclude about the treatment of the native peoples of the Americas? Rationale?

  12. What is the paradox Cox points out regarding the development of modern concepts of “race”?
    What other intellectual movement fueled 19    th-century European racism?

  13. What were the interconnections between modern racism and colonialism/imperialism?

  14. What were some of the mass atrocities that occurred under Stalin?
    What does the title of Naimark’s book suggest? (see the footnote, page 29)

  15. While the Holocaust comes to be seen as the greatest horror of WWII, what does that central focus tend to obscure about other WWII atrocities?

  16. While Cox does not offer judgement regarding the US use of atomic bombs against Japan, what does he emphasize about the views at the time of both US leaders and the general populace?

  17. Whose rule is labeled the “worst non-genocidal regime”? Why?

  18. What are the other post-World War II genocidal conflicts Cox reviews? List them and review the assigned map (xiv) and timeline (239).

  19. What is the problem with the term “ethnic cleansing”?

  20. What are some of the salient scholarly explanations for the occurrence and prevalence of genocide reviewed by Cox (see Browning, Waller, and Jones)?
    What are some of the other practical, ideological, and political factors that may be involved?

  21. The quote from the Rwandan genocide survivor asks, “Can you imagine that kind of life?”
    Well, can you? What choices might you make in such circumstances?