Stanton's Theory Of Eight Stages Of Genocide

Stanton's theory of eight stages of genocide

Stanton based his theory on the idea that genocide is not just a singular or random event that occurs but a process. Stanton's theory suggests that this process has early warning stages which he categories into eight stages classification, symbolisation, dehumanisation, organisation, polarisation, preparation, extermination and denial, Stanton's theory suggests that all genocides start with classification where the idea of "Us versus them" manifests where individuals are distinguished by their nationality, race, religion and ethnicity a prime example would be Hitler's rise to power where he used his anti-Jew sentiment as a way to gain the publics favour using 'Jews' as an excuse as to why Germany's economy was ruined which caused the German society to divide using Jewish people as a scapegoat to gain political power this trend can be seen through Stanton's second stage, Symbolisation which focuses on similar principles as the first stage where differentiating is a key part, names, language, types of clothing are all associated with distinguishing different races, religions and ethnicities, Hitler's regime would associate people by terms such as 'Jews' and 'German' which were used to distinguish superiority between the two as well as uniforms where Nazi party members would where Swastika armbands and Jewish people would wear an armband depicting a yellow star of David while Homosexuals would wear pink with inverted triangles, criminals with green triangles, "political prisoners with red" and "Jehovah's. Witnesses with purple".

However these two stages are not enough to be a precondition to an act such as genocide neither are the ideological theories of the holocaust and the Rwanda genocide sufficient enough for explaining why a genocide happens from these two stages alone however Stanton's next stage is Dehumanisation which is the third stage where one or more groups targeted another group preventing any sort of human rights and portrays that particular-group as 'subhuman'. Invoking superiority to the oppressor while lowering the quality and status of the oppressed. Which leads to the 'justification' of murder or so called "ethnic cleansing". This is typically done through hate speech such as propaganda, posters, broadcast towers and speeches, usually describing members of that group as a plight, disease, filth and animals to further give the impression that they are not human and should not be treated as such, examples of dehumanisation would be the Rwanda genocide where radio television Libre des Mile Collines and the thousand hills free radio station broadcasted anti- Tutsi sentiment, examples being "kill the cockroaches" and "If this disease is not treated immediately, it will destroy all the Hutu". these psychological views on how we perceive someone is what is used to justify their actions and is the most important aspect of the preconditioning of genocide.

The fourth stage is Organisation, all genocides require a large collective of individuals to be armed and prepared for the genocidal killings, which in turn means those in charge must be organised for the genocide to be carried out, typically by either the state or financially supported militia elites who organise a plan for the genocidal killings this happens when the breaking point between the victims and perpetrators is at its highest and militias and other groups are willing to 'cleanse' the 'enemy' an example of this would be the Rwanda genocide which saw the government and Hutu supportive businesses provided over 500,000 arms to the militias called the Interahamwe to provide security to their villages through exterminating the Tutsi population when the signal was given over the radio "cut the tall trees".

Stage five, Polarisation focuses on factions and in particular extremists groups. Which broadcast propaganda to gain more followers and influence as well as target and stage attacks to blame the opposition to silence, threaten and intimidate political figures and sometimes even kill to pass laws such as intermarriage or social interactions. An example of this would be the Reichstag fire in Germany 1933 where Jewish communists were blamed for the fire.

Preparation is the sixth stage where differentiating is taken even further than the first and second stage where members of the oppressed are subjected to identifiable clothing, often an armband or a passport however certain circumstance have even taken that further to tattoos. The oppressed are separated depending on certain characteristic such as their nationality, race, religion and ethnicity and are often forced to do slave-labour or are deported to the less developed areas which are often struck by famine or in certain cases concentration camps are built where victims will work till they die or are just sent to their deaths within the camp and Stockpiles of weapon for keeping the victims in line and for the next stage that being extermination and the act of genocide. Extermination is the seventh stage of Stanton's theory and is the actual act of genocide. This often happens due to a few reasons typically for individual dictators to gain complete political power by supressing all opposition and potential threats. This is commonly done through propaganda of nationalism as all dictators and or militias focus their ideological ideas around their ideals to justify the mass murder of those individuals outside of their 'group' to gain political power this leads to further anti-sentiment which leads to further genocides of when one of the sides is at breaking point and the mass killings start however the killing itself is not seen as murder but a "cleansing"to 'outsiders'. Example of this would be the Armenian genocide where the young Turkish people used their nationalistic ideals to force the Armenian minority out due to cultural difference however with military force their original intentions led to the idea of bringing back the ‘pure’ national image.

Denial is the eighth and final stage of Stanton's theory of the eight stages of genocide. Stanton's theory suggests that denial will always be found within genocide as it is a key component as denial helps to ensure further eradication of a particular group to help maintain power and to further dehumanise and eradicate a certain race, religion and ethnic group. (Stanley Cohen (2001)

Sparks theory on victim precipitation

Sparks theory on Victim precipitation and proneness. Sparks theory focuses on the geographical and social differences of victimisation which is where he developed his theory of "Six-fold typology of victim proneness". (Tim Newburn 3rd edition, Sparks snr r, 1982, P.369). Richards Sparks and his colleagues, work during the 1970's prior to his Six-fold typology of victim proneness theory laid the foundation as his work heavily focused on similar aspects, those being "Vulnerability, neighbourhood characteristics and lifestyles". (Tim Newburn 3rd edition, Sparks et al, 1970, P.369). As the name of the theory implies Sparks theory is split into six different categories, those being precipitation, facilitation, vulnerability, opportunity, attractiveness and impunity. Each focusing on a different aspect of victimisation. His work targeted those who would be victims conflict knowingly or not.

• Precipitation is the focus on an individual who knowingly and willingly "encourages one's own victimisation". (Tim Newburn 3rd edition, Sparks et al, 1970, P.369)
• Facilitation which is where one purposely or for other reasons "at risk of crime" (Tim Newburn 3rd edition, Sparks et al, 1970, P.369)
• Vulnerability which is associated with appearance and physical features which could increase the chances of being targeted.
• Opportunity is typically associated with circumstances that makes it possible to do something which you would not have a chance to do often.
• Attractiveness is associated with wealth which may draw the attention of others.
• Impunity is when an individual is perceived as an "easy target".(Tim Newburn 3rd edition, Sparks et al, 1970, P.369)

Although all could be related to the cause of genocide in some way, there are a number which standout, those being Impunity, Attractiveness and Vulnerability as they are often related to certain characteristics and wealth as well as being an easy scapegoat for the perpetrator groups to gain power by victim blaming is a part of victim precipitation within certain crimes such as genocide there has been evidence which indicates a link between perpetrators and victim particularly in crimes which blame victims for the cause for what has happened to them and enforcing the idea that it is "their own culpability, no crime would have been committed which increases tensions between the two groups (Tim Newburn 3rd edition, 2017, p370)

Other factors such as past genocides or conflicts also contribute to the causes of genocide especially if the event was recent as it can create tension between current groups and or new perpetrators and victim groups with members of victim groups particularly either embrace and avoid the past while others may be conflicted between the two, while perpetrator groups noted by Peetz, Gunn, & Wilson (2010) typically try to distance themselves from past genocides and conflicts. Tangney, Stuewig, & Mashek (2007) research suggests the reason for this is typically to do with minimising and or deny harm in order to protect their group identity and their "Cause" as personal past conflict can cause a threat to their identity which could lead to backlash from their supporters as moral and positive representation within the group identity is a justification as to why individuals justify harm they have personally caused E.g mass murders and genocide as they believe the ends justify the means.

Another possible cause for genocide is radical victimology as radical and extremist groups are the forced which drives and further pushes the ideals of genocide as dictators and militias groups 'promise' to provide 'equality' through dehumanisation and extermination. However not all radicals are merciless killers as many are forced into becoming radicals due to "structural inequalities"(Tim Newburn 3rd edition, 2017, p371) which create borders between different groups, even when genocides are committed by individuals they are often similar, genetically, culturally, and linguistically to their victims an example of this would be the Rwanda genocide as the main difference was their status with the Hutu meaning peasant and the Tutsi meaning noble.