Genocide at the beginning of the twenty-first century takes a wide range of forms. Much consists of small episodes of genocidal violence (terror, expulsion, killing and rape) that are either relatively contained events, or relatively isolated events of this type within larger political conflicts and wars. Some constitutes large-scale regional or national episodes of violence and mass murder. The discussion in Chapter 8 suggests that the danger of genocide is most acute in situations of state crisis, upheaval and civil war, but it may also erupt through national and sub-national political and socio-economic competition, especially electoral processes. The connection with national political competition means that national context is an important reference point; in the most contained cases, international elements may be limited. However, since most civil wars and even political crises are internationalized, and ‘neighbourhood’ effects are often strong, contemporary genocide needs to be analysed in world-regional contexts. This chapter therefore presents an overview of genocide since the end of the Cold War, organized primarily in regional terms.

Genocide today also has, almost invariably, an explicit global dimension. Global human rights norms spur victim-groups to seek international redress. Globally promoted democratization means that national and local power needs to be obtained or legitimated by electoral means, which often spur violence. Multi-dimensional global surveillance (political, legal, media and internet, etc.) means that all but the most contained conflicts are played out, to greater and lesser extents, with an eye to political and military interventions by the UN, the West and regional powers. Unlike in the Cold War period, today genocidal crises almost invariably gain attention in, if not always effective responses from, the Security Council. Global interventions are best conceptualized as normal components of contemporary genocidal processes, which may, even if unintentionally, provoke or facilitate as well as halt genocide. As Danny Hoffman (2004: 211–12) generalizes of African conflicts, ‘humanitarian’ interventions ‘are now an integral component . . . it is hard to imagine an inter- or intra-state conflict anywhere that is not shaped in part by the presence of peacekeepers, emergency relief or development operations, or by the possibility of such a presence’. Africa is the main field of intervention for the UN and the West, but this is not only an African phenomenon. In this chapter I look at regional patterns of genocide in the context of emerging global relations, starting with Africa.