Document Type

Article

Publication Date

6-1-2018

Journal Title

Security Dialogue

Volume Number

49

Issue Number

5

First Page

327

Last Page

344

DOI

https://doi.org/10.1177/0967010618775025

Version

Publisher PDF: the final published version of the article, with professional formatting and typesetting

Disciplines

Peace and Conflict Studies

Abstract

Mass atrocity requires the participation of numerous individuals and groups, yet only a few find themselves held accountable. How are these few selected? This article offers a framework that is useful for understanding how the condemned often embody attributes that keep them in the spotlight. Because norms used to identify perpetrators can set the context for future violence, long-term security requires interrupting both the actions of perpetrators and the discourses about them. A form of praxis, this study of the contemporary conflict over the French National Railways’ (SNCF) amends-making for its World War II transport of deportees towards death camps considers how certain perpetrators come to stand for the many. The SNCF remains in the spotlight not because of greater culpability or an unwillingness to make amends but because it embodies attributes of an ‘ideal’ perpetrator: it is (1) strong, (2) abstractable, (3) representative of the nature of the crime, and (4) has a champion-opponent who focuses attention on the perpetrator. Understanding the labeling process makes visible who and what we ignore at our own peril.

Notes

Article first published online on June 1, 2018 at Sage's website

Security Dialogue, volume: 49 issue: 5, page(s): 327-344

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