Date Approved

2011

Degree Type

Open Access Thesis

Degree Name

Master of Arts (MA)

Department or School

Sociology, Anthropology, and Criminology

Committee Member

Gregg Barak, PhD, Chair

Committee Member

Paul Leighton, PhD

Abstract

This work examines the genocidal rape policies that occurred in the Rwandan and former Yugoslavian conflicts. Traditionally, rape has been considered an unfortunate yet inescapable consequence of war. In the early 1990s, the Hutu and Serbian regimes developed a new tactic and utilized rape as a genocidal weapon. Following a comparative analysis framework, the present study will examine the similarities and differences of the genocidal rape in Rwanda and the former Yugoslavia. Five points of comparison were established: perpetrators, victims, global economics, social disorder, and militias. Results of this analysis show that Rwanda and the former Yugoslavia possessed common pre-genocidal conditions and displayed similar ideological processes. Uncovering precursors to and generalizable characteristics of genocidal rape, the international community may be given the opportunity to develop a preventative approach to this atrocity. The objective of this study is to contribute to a growing body of research on genocidal rape.

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