This fully revised edition of Martin Shaw’s classic,award-winning text proposes a way through the intellectualconfusion surrounding genocide. In a thorough account of theidea’s history, Shaw considers its origins and developmentand its relationships to concepts like ethnic cleansing andpoliticide. Offering a radical critique of the existingliterature on genocide, he argues that what distinguishes genocidefrom more legitimate warfare is that the ‘enemies’targeted are groups and individuals of a civilian character. He vividly illustrates his argument with a wide range of historicalexamples - from the Holocaust to Rwanda and Palestine to Yugoslavia- and shows how the question ‘What is genocide?’matters politically whenever populations are threatened byviolence.The second edition of this compelling book will continue tospark interest and vigorous debate, appealing to students andscholars across the social sciences and in international law.