Atrocity Triangle: A Course on the Criminology of Gross Human Rights Violations

Full course description

The Atrocity Triangle course explores the causes of gross human rights violations (f.i. genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes) and the ability of societies to address such violence, with the goal of rectifying injustices and preventing future atrocities. Gross human rights violations often involve widespread societal participation, prompting an investigation into why many individuals engage in and support policies that lead to the continued mass victimization of others. People are generally not prone to commit violence, which means that we investigate the conditions under which the inhibitions against violence are neutralized and the prolonged perpetration of violence is facilitated. Throughout the course, we unravel a complex process, involving explanatory factors on the macro (society), meso (institutions/organizations), and micro (individual actors) level and the dynamics between those. To understand how processes of perpetration develop, it is furthermore required to look beyond the perpetrators as leading figures, take into account the important roles of bystanders and victims, and explore how the complex interaction between all these actors affects processes of perpetration. The course delves into the policy implications derived from our comprehension of the causes and effects of gross human rights violations, as well as the involvement of various actors. Specifically, we explore how transitional justice mechanisms can address such past violence and we critically evaluate their efficacy in redressing injustices, promoting reconciliation, and preventing future violations. The course reflects on the implications of these findings for field of transitional justice.

Given the nature of the subject matter, it is important to note that study materials such as literature and documentaries may contain graphic depictions of violence and suffering.

Course objectives

The course aims to achieve the following:

To gain a critical understanding of how to approach the study of complex cases of violence and to be able to analyze such cases independently;
Moreover, to view the world through the eyes of the perpetrators as well as the victims and the bystanders by focusing on their roles in the occurrence of gross human rights violations and the process of transitional justice.
To gain an understanding of gross human rights violations by examining their causes on individual (micro), institutional (meso), national and international (macro) levels using an approach that integrates relevant insights from different academic disciplines;
To gain an understanding of different approaches and instruments for transitional justice and how to deal with gross human rights violations by critically examining different approaches to post-conflict justice (retributive, restorative and transformative approaches) and the accompanying mechanisms such as, international and regional criminal courts and tribunals, apologies, education, truth commissions, impunity, amnesties, lustration and vetting, etc

Prerequisites

Two 2000-level courses in the Social Sciences or Humanities.

Atrocity Triangle: A Course on the Criminology of Gross Human Rights Violations