The New Age of Genocide

Martin Shaw

• 16 oktober 2025
• 9781788218733

Samenvatting:

With recent events in Gaza, Martin Shaw seeks to restore the idea of genocide to its central place in thinking about mass atrocities, to apply it to neglected cases, and ultimately to settle the question of ‘What is genocide’?

The Israeli destruction of Gaza has returned the idea of genocide to the centre of world politics, with sharp conflicts between protesters and lawyers who invoke it and governments and media that deny it. This book, by the foremost sociological theorist of genocide, defends the idea against thinkers who have questioned it, and argues that it is essential to the understanding of mass atrocities. It maintains that Gaza has opened a new age in which the West not only fails to prevent, but also participates in genocide.

As well as discussing the genocide idea, the book analyses the Gaza genocide in the context of the longer histories of the problem, both globally and in Palestine. Further chapters deal with "forgotten genocides", the attempted Russian elimination of Ukraine, and the history of British complicity. The New Age of Genocide brings the debate up to date and is essential reading.