Introduction

Abstract

AbstractIn efforts to explain mass killings, the role of ideology is deeply disputed. Most existing scholarship falls into one of two camps: a ‘traditional-ideological’ perspective which emphasizes extremist goals and hatreds that motivate ideologically committed perpetrators of mass killing, and a ‘sceptical’ perspective which portrays most perpetrators as lacking ideological commitment, and instead roots the violence in rational incentives and/or various forms of social pressure that arise in certain contexts of crisis. Challenging both these perspectives, this introductory chapter lays out the alternative ‘neo-ideological’ perspective advanced in the book, which understands mass killings as vitally rooted in ideologically radicalized visions of security politics. This involves two key arguments: first, that ideologies provide crucial justificatory narratives for mass killing by exploiting and stretching conventional strategic and moral ideas about security, and second, that ideologies shape violent behaviour in ways that extend beyond deep ideological commitment, binding diverse ‘perpetrator coalitions’ into violence.