Genocide and Counterinsurgency: Toward a Continuum of Strategic Violence

This paper theorizes the relationship between genocide and counterinsurgency as a continuum of strategic violence, challenging conventional legal and political distinctions between military strategy and mass atrocity. Drawing on critical war studies, genocide theory, and postcolonial epistemologies, the presentation interrogates how state violence is framed, normalized, and operationalized across legal and military discourses. It explores the epistemological foundations, ontological assumptions, and ethical consequences of classifying counterinsurgency as a distinct mode of war, arguing instead that it can function as a mechanism of population destruction. Delivered as part of the roundtable “At the Frontiers of International Studies: the Emerging Prominence of Law, War Crimes and Genocide over 50 Years and New Research for the Future” at the 50th Anniversary British International Studies Association (BISA) Annual Conference, the paper contributes to emerging debates at the intersection of international law, political violence, and strategic theory.<br/><br/>