Book Review: War and Genocide: Organized Killing in Modern Society.
| Published date | 01 December 2006 |
| Date | 01 December 2006 |
| Author | Carlo G. Pinnetti |
| DOI | 10.1177/0964663906069556 |
| Subject Matter | Articles |
REFERENCES
Mussawir, E. (2005) ‘Review Article: The Cinematics of Jurisprudence: Scenes of
Law’s Moving Image’, Cardozo Studies in Law and Literature 17: 131.
Panko, C. (2005) ‘Review: Law’s Moving Image’, Saskatchewan Law Review 68: 245.
KATHERINE BIBER
Macquarie University, Australia
MARTIN SHAW, War and Genocide: Organized Killing in Modern Society. Cambridge:
Polity Press, 2003, 257 pp., £16.99 (pbk).
DOI: 10.1177/0964663906069556
In the first American Presidential debate on foreign policy between President George
W. Bush and Democratic candidate, Senator John Kerry, each described the events in
the Darfur region of Sudan as genocide. This acknowledgement raised further debate
on the legitimacy of military intervention at a time when the US electorate was to
select a president based in part on whether they regarded the invasion of Iraq as legit-
imate. The debate about employing war as a ‘humanitarian’ force in the prevention
of genocide is a central international-political question of our time, raising the deeper
question of how war is related to genocide. Few books today can claim to address
such an important contemporary issue as Martin Shaw’s book, War and Genocide.
From an author whose past work has displayed a cogent grasp of the complexities
of contemporary warfare in a global setting, this is a well-written book that is access-
ible to academic and non-academic audiences alike. On one level, its structure is
organized not unlike a textbook, with distinct sections introducing and examining a
diverse array of topics from Clausewitz’s theory of warfare and totalitarianism, to
conscientious objection and humanitarian intervention. Likewise, the work discusses
a broad scope of particular episodes of human atrocity from various periods of the
20th century. Unlike a textbook, however, the book contains a unique narrative
regarding the relationship between war and genocide.
The book examines the problem of slaughter through addressing three central ques-
tions: how the organization of society produces mass killing; how society is actually
involved in war; and how society responds to war. Chapters 3–5 examine the practice
of warfare as embedded within organized social practices and historical patterns of
thought, from the influence of state authority and the role of the mass media to indus-
trialization and the geography of war. Chapters 6–8 deal with the second question
involving modern battle spaces, their combatants and victims. These chapters address
the expanding logic of violence that has involved communities and new geographical
spaces. Shaw reveals that the modern battlefield has no potential boundaries, since the
changing social structure supporting war has expanded, making, for example, indus-
trial production and social morale legitimate targets of violence. This propensity to
target civilian populations is not unconnected to globalization-driven social immis-
eration and inequality. For this reason, Shaw investigates how combatants are defined
and recruited, through an examination of the social contexts of war, as influenced by
class, the mass media, gender and post-military society. Victimhood is also examined
in the context of inequalities of power and strategies of slaughter. Shaw conducts a
careful examination of those killed in battle and highlights important processes within
the military logic that account for their destruction. His investigation into the ‘social
structuring of victimhood’ reveals, among many other important issues, the ways in
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