Political Theory (Genocide and Crimes Against Humanity)
Political theory can help explain elements of gross human rights
violations, especially genocide. Liberalism, for example, is
helpful in suggesting that liberal democracies typically do not
engage in mass murder, nor do they wage war on each other.
Genocides and other massive human rights violations generally
have occurred during time of war. In its emphasis on the self-
defeating character of war and the need for limitations on its
conduct, Grotian international legal theory also is helpful.
Common gains for the world's communities as the result of
liberal international cooperation suggest the constitution of
international regimes that would implicitly or even explicitly
prohibit mass murder. International legal frameworks for such
cooperation typically do just that. The European Union as a
prototypical example has increasingly emphasized democracy and
the protection of human rights as a condition of state
membership. Utilitarianism, especially in John