New Books in Genocide Studies

Anuradha Chakravarty, “Investing in Authoritarian Rule: Punishment and Patronage in Rwanda’s Gacaca Courts for Genocide Crimes,” (Cambridge UP, 2016)


Listen Later

In my time doing this podcast, I’ve covered a number of books about transitional justice. All have been insightful and interesting. But few of them focused carefully on the trials themselves.

Anuradha Chakravarty seeks to remedy this. Her book Investing in Authoritarian Rule: Punishment and Patronage in Rwanda’s Gacaca Courts for Genocide Crimes (Cambridge University Press, 2016) looks carefully at the processes and people involved in Rwanda’s Gacaca courts. She looks at the recruitment and training of judges. She looks at the incentives offered for denouncing others as genocidaires. And she examines the ways in which the incentives and context led many defendants to confess.

In doing so, Chakravarty significantly advances our understanding of the workings of transitional justice in Rwanda. But she also uses Rwanda as a lens to try and understand the challenges faced by authoritarian leaders. She argues that the RPF engaged in a kind of clientalistic bargaining with Hutus. By offering targeted grants of clemency and patronage to defendants and to those who denounced others, the RPF secured its political control over Rwanda as a whole. Chakravarty argues that other autocratic leaders have often used a similar strategy of “authoritarian clientelism” to secure their power. It’s a persuasive argument.

Kelly McFall is Associate Professor of History at Newman University in Wichita, Kansas, where he directs the Honors Program. He is particularly interested in the question of how to teach about the history of genocides and mass atrocities and has written a module in the Reacting to the Past series about the UN debate over whether to intervene in Rwanda in 1994.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/genocide-studies

...more
View all episodesView all episodes
Download on the App Store

New Books in Genocide StudiesBy Marshall Poe

  • 4.3
  • 4.3
  • 4.3
  • 4.3
  • 4.3

4.3

32 ratings


More shows like New Books in Genocide Studies

View all
The Political Scene | The New Yorker by WNYC Studios and The New Yorker

The Political Scene | The New Yorker

3,987 Listeners

More or Less by BBC Radio 4

More or Less

883 Listeners

New Books in Philosophy by New Books Network

New Books in Philosophy

112 Listeners

History Extra podcast by Immediate Media

History Extra podcast

3,191 Listeners

New Books in History by Marshall Poe

New Books in History

211 Listeners

New Books in Military History by Marshall Poe

New Books in Military History

161 Listeners

New Books in Economics by Marshall Poe

New Books in Economics

27 Listeners

New Books in Religion by New Books Network

New Books in Religion

30 Listeners

New Books in Psychoanalysis by Marshall Poe

New Books in Psychoanalysis

186 Listeners

New Books in African American Studies by New Books Network

New Books in African American Studies

164 Listeners

New Books in Environmental Studies by Marshall Poe

New Books in Environmental Studies

23 Listeners

New Books in Native American Studies by Marshall Poe

New Books in Native American Studies

103 Listeners

New Books in Intellectual History by New Books Network

New Books in Intellectual History

61 Listeners

The Dig by Daniel Denvir

The Dig

1,571 Listeners

Secrets and Spies Podcast: Espionage | Global Issues | Current Affairs by Secrets & Spies

Secrets and Spies Podcast: Espionage | Global Issues | Current Affairs

268 Listeners

The Atlantic Interview by The Atlantic

The Atlantic Interview

2,127 Listeners

WW2 Pod: We Have Ways of Making You Talk by Goalhanger

WW2 Pod: We Have Ways of Making You Talk

1,378 Listeners

Time To Say Goodbye by Time To Say Goodbye

Time To Say Goodbye

412 Listeners

In Moscow's Shadows by Mark Galeotti

In Moscow's Shadows

362 Listeners

For Heaven's Sake by Shalom Hartman Institute

For Heaven's Sake

444 Listeners

The Rest Is History by Goalhanger

The Rest Is History

14,606 Listeners

Gone Medieval by History Hit

Gone Medieval

1,832 Listeners

On the Nose by Jewish Currents

On the Nose

234 Listeners

School of War by Nebulous Media

School of War

447 Listeners

Past Present Future by David Runciman

Past Present Future

321 Listeners