After Mass Crime

International interventions in the aftermath of mass violence tend to focus on justice and reconciliation processes, elections and institution-building. The frame of reference is at the level of the state, although the experience of mass crime by a population is also at the level of the community and individuals.

Insufficient attention has been paid to the radical transformations in their belief systems and codes of conduct after the experience of mass crime. This book seeks to bridge this divide by offering a trans-disciplinary analysis of the impact of mass crime on the rebuilding of social and political relations.

Drawing on historical and more recent cases—including examples from Bosnia-Herzegovina, Burundi, Cambodia, Indonesia, Peru, and Rwanda—the authors examine the impact of mass crimes on individuals, society at large, and the organizations involved in providing assistance in the post-conflict phase. While outside actors have a role to play in this difficult process, the hardest work must be done by those picking up the pieces of a community that has turned on itself.

Béatrice Pouligny is Senior Researcher at the Centre for International Studies and Research (CERI/Sciences-Po), Paris, France. Simon Chesterman is Global Professor and Director of the New York University School of Law Singapore Programme, Singapore. Albrecht Schnabel is Senior Research Fellow at swisspeace—Swiss Peace Foundation, Bern, Switzerland.

Details on the United Nations University Press Web site here.