The permanency of mass atrocities: The fallacy of ‘never again’

Adrian Gallagher; Richard Illingworth; Euan Raffle; Ben Willis

doi:10.1177/13691481241241332

The permanency of mass atrocities: The fallacy of ‘never again’

Adrian Gallagher, Richard Illingworth, Euan Raffle^*, Ben Willis

^*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

Abstract

The terminology of ‘never again’ has been studied in Sociology, Cultural Studies and History, yet remains neglected in International Relations. This is despite its centrality in debates over humanitarian intervention, the Responsibility to Protect and mass atrocity prevention. To foster a conversation over the term’s use, this article uses an interdisciplinary approach to show how the meaning of ‘never again’ has changed over time. Building on this, we analyse five real-world problems: (1) the quantitative problem, (2) the nuclear problem, (3) the regime change problem, (4) the weak state problem and (5) the P5 problem. We find the blanket call of ‘never again’ oversimplifies the complexity of mass atrocity prevention and creates an unrealistic goal. Going forward, we call on those invoking the phrase to explain what they mean by it and why they are using it as part of a broader reassessment of the term’s use in International Relations.

Original language	English
Journal	British Journal of Politics and International Relations
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1177/13691481241241332
Publication status	Published - 1 Apr 2024

ASJC Scopus subject areas

Political Science and International Relations
Management, Monitoring, Policy and Law

Keywords

genocide
mass atrocities
never again
responsibility to protect

Access to Document

10.1177/13691481241241332

Cite this

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abstract = "The terminology of {\textquoteleft}never again{\textquoteright} has been studied in Sociology, Cultural Studies and History, yet remains neglected in International Relations. This is despite its centrality in debates over humanitarian intervention, the Responsibility to Protect and mass atrocity prevention. To foster a conversation over the term{\textquoteright}s use, this article uses an interdisciplinary approach to show how the meaning of {\textquoteleft}never again{\textquoteright} has changed over time. Building on this, we analyse five real-world problems: (1) the quantitative problem, (2) the nuclear problem, (3) the regime change problem, (4) the weak state problem and (5) the P5 problem. We find the blanket call of {\textquoteleft}never again{\textquoteright} oversimplifies the complexity of mass atrocity prevention and creates an unrealistic goal. Going forward, we call on those invoking the phrase to explain what they mean by it and why they are using it as part of a broader reassessment of the term{\textquoteright}s use in International Relations.",

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The permanency of mass atrocities: The fallacy of ‘never again’

Abstract

ASJC Scopus subject areas

Keywords

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