Genocide and the dynamics of victimization: Some observations on Armenia

Abstract

Victimology, following in the train of criminology, is starting to incorporate genocide into its research and theory. How will this new direction affect understandings of genocide, and how might it reshape victimology itself? We begin by proposing a new term, victimality, to indicate a group’s potential for victimization by genocide and other atrocity crimes. Then we rework two of victimology’s traditional concepts – victim precipitation and victim proneness – to show how they might be used to analyse the dynamics of genocidal processes. We apply the three concepts to the Armenian genocide of 1915 and suggest ways in which victimologists might engage further with the crime of all crimes.