How very massive atrocities end: A dataset and typology
| Author | Chad Hazlett,Bridget Conley |
| DOI | 10.1177/0022343319900912 |
| Date | 01 May 2021 |
| Published date | 01 May 2021 |
| Subject Matter | Special Data Features |
How very massive atrocities end: A dataset
and typology
Bridget Conley
Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy, Tufts University
Chad Hazlett
Department of Political Science, UCLA
Abstract
Understanding how the most severe mass atrocities have historically come to an end may aid in designing policy
interventions to more rapidly terminate future episodes. To facilitate research in this area, we construct a new dataset
covering all 43 very large mass atrocities perpetrated by governments or non-state actors since 1945 with at least
50,000 civilian fatalities. This article introduces and summarizes these data, including an inductively generated
typology of three major ending types: those in which (i) violence is carried out to its intended conclusion (37%); (ii)
the perpetrator is driven out of power militarily (26%); or (iii) the perpetrator shifts to a different strategy no longer
involving mass atrocities against civilians (37%). We find that international actors play a range of important roles in
endings, often involving encouragement and support for policy changes that reduce mass killings. Endings could be
attributed principally to armed foreign interventions in only four cases, three of which involved regime change.
Within the cases we study, no ending was attributable to a neutral peacekeeping mission.
Keywords
civil war, conflict termination, genocide, mass atrocity
Introduction
Mass atrocities – widespread and systematic violence
against civilians – have proven easier to condemn than
to stop. Yet these atrocities do eventually stop. Valuable
lessons for halting future atrocities may be learned by
studying past terminations, but little systematic work has
sought to characterize how even the largest atrocities
have ended. Instead, nearly all work on atrocity endings
has examined the effects of third-party interventions,
such as sanctions or peacekeeping missions, on the scale
or duration of violence. These studies provide important
insights, but do not illuminate the variety of ways in
which atrocities end, especially when endings are unre-
lated to outside intervention. This article aims to
advance and facilitate research on the empirical question
of how very large atrocities have ended. We introduce a
dataset describing the 43 mass atrocities involving
50,000 civilian fatalities since 1945. Our focus on these
very massive atrocities ensures the availability of data
required to satisfy our coding rules. Consequently, we
speak only to how these ‘worst’ atrocities end. Because
these events are so large as to require a degree of coordi-
nation and capacity, they may differ in important ways
from smaller atrocities, not to mention other violent
phenomena such as terrorist campaigns or criminal
activities.
In addition to providing data on each atrocity and
how it ended, we provide complete case studies and a
narrative description of each ending. We also offer a
framework that organizes these endings into three types.
First, atrocities end as planned when perpetrators achieve
their aims, often by eliminating the threat they believed
was posed by the targeted group. Second, atrocities can
Corresponding author:
chazlett@ucla.edu
Journal of Peace Research
2021, Vol. 58(3) 612–620
ªThe Author(s) 2020
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DOI: 10.1177/0022343319900912
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