Genocide is widely acknowledged as 'the crime of crimes'. Such universal condemnation understandably triggers both loose talk (calling each and every massacre 'genocide') and utter reluctance in political circles to use the 'G-word'. The social construction of genocide reflects the deeper question whether the rigid legal concept of genocide - as it emerges in the Genocide Convention and has been maintained ever since - still corresponds with the historical and social perception of the phenomenon. This book is the product of an intellectual encounter between scholars of historical and legal...