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The termgenocidal massacre was introduced byLeo Kuper (1908–1994) to describe incidents which have a genocidal component but are committed on a smaller scale when they are compared togenocides such as theRwandan genocide.^[1] Others such asRobert Melson, who also makes a similar differentiation, class genocidalmassacres as "partial genocide".^[2]

This is a list of scholarly definitions of genocide massacre, a phrase coined by Leo Kuper.

Kuper argued that it is important to retain the basic concept of genocidal murder, that it is not helpful to create entirely new definitions when there exists an internationally recognized definition and aGenocide Convention that might provide the basis for some effective action, ... he argued that basically all mass killing is genocide, but at the same time the wordmassacre can be added to convey a more limited range of mass killing.

This list isincomplete; you can help byadding missing items.(February 2011)

In his bookBlood and Soil,Ben Kiernan states that genocidal massacres can be state-organized, communal, or a combination of both.

• State-organized:imperial powers have often committed genocidal massacres to control difficult minorities within theirempires. For example, when Jews rioted inAlexandria in 68 AD in support of Jews who were taking part in theFirst Jewish–Roman War, the Roman governorTiberius Julius Alexander massacred 50,000 to quell the riots.^[8]
• Communal strife: example is the 1577 massacre in theUamh Fhraing of theClan MacLeod by MacDonald raiders; the next year MacLeods retaliated by massacring the MacDonalds inTrumpan Church.^[9]
• Communal strife, assisted by the state: in response to atrain fire, thepolice in Gujarat helped Hindu nationalist gangs tomassacre 800–2,000 people, mostly Muslims, and raping Muslim women. Thegovernment of Gujarat was accused of covering up the state's role in the massacres.^[8]

Ben Kiernan states that some genocidal massacres are carried out against groups that are not covered by theGenocide Convention—such as being a member of a political party, or social class—but that these are covered under local laws and international treaties that criminalisecrimes against humanity. However he does acknowledge that massacres against groups other than those in the Genocide Convention, and where the intention of the perpetrators did not specifically intend to commit genocide, are a grey area.^[10]

William Schabas makes the point that genocidal massacres are criminal offences underinternational law as a crime against humanity, and during an armed conflict under thelaws of war. However he points out that international prosecutions for individual acts are not covered by theRome Statute (which brought into existence theInternational Court of Justice) because crimes against humanity must be "widespread or systematic" andwar crimes usually have to have a threshold above the individual crime "in particular when committed as part of a plan or policy or as part of a large-scale commission of such crimes".^[11]

Irving Louis Horowitz is critical of Kuper's approach. He cites Kuper's use of the termgenocidal massacre to describe the inter-communal violence during thepartition of India and duringThe Troubles in Northern Ireland. Hirsh states "to speak of [these] as genocidal in a context of religious competition and conflict risks diluting the notion of genocide and equating it with any conflict between national, religious, or racial groups".^[12]

• Outline of genocide studies
• Ten stages of genocide
• Genocide studies
• Rwandan genocide

• Andreopoulos, George J. (1997).Genocide: Conceptual and Historical Dimensions.University of Pennsylvania Press.ISBN 978-0-8122-1616-5.
• Charny, Israel W. (1999).Encyclopedia of Genocide.ABC-CLIO.ISBN 978-0-87436-928-1.
• Horowitz, Irving Louis (1989).Persuasions and Prejudices: An Informal Compendium of Modern Social Science, 1953–1988.Transaction Publishers.ISBN 978-0-88738-261-1.
• Kiernan, Ben (2007).Blood and Soil: A World History of Genocide and Extermination from Sparta to Darfur.Yale University Press.ISBN 978-0-300-10098-3.
• Kuper, Leo (1982).Genocide: Its Political Use in the Twentieth Century.Yale University Press.ISBN 978-0-300-03120-1.
• Melson, Robert (1992).Revolution and Genocide: On the Origins of the Armenian Genocide and the Holocaust.University of Chicago Press.ISBN 978-0-226-51990-6.
• Moses, A. Dirk (2004).Genocide and Settler Society: Frontier Violence and Stolen Indigenous Children in Australian History.Berghahn Books.ISBN 978-1-57181-410-4.
• Schabas, William (2000).Genocide in International Law: The Crimes of Crimes.Cambridge University Press.ISBN 978-0-521-78790-1.

• Bibliography of genocide studies

• Genocide
• Massacres

• Articles with short description
• Short description is different from Wikidata
• Incomplete lists from February 2011