University of Calgary

Maureen Hiebert

  • Associate Professor

Current Research

I am currently working on two research projects. One is a set of co-authored articles (with Joshua D. Goldstein) in which we use Hegel's understanding of the founding moment of modernity to draw a distinction between chronologically modern and ontologically modern genocides, illustrated in the Nazi Final Solution and the Cambodian genocide respectively. The second is a single-author book project in which I examine the role of law not in the prevention of genocide, but in its perpetration. Drawing on critical socio-legal theories, I seek to understand how the law legitimates group destruction both in terms of setting the stage for "extra-legal" mass violence genocides as well as cases of cultural genocide in settler societies. In the latter the law plays a leading role in the entire process of destruction as democratic governments wedded to the rule of law turn to the law itself to craft and enforce programs of forced assimilation legitimated as “lawful” against groups defined under these same laws as “deviant”.

Revise and Resubmit

None at present.

Under Review

"Genocide, Revolution, and Starvation Under the Khmer Rouge” written as a co-editor for Genocide Studies International for a special issue on genocide and starvation.

Refereed Publications

Book
2017

Constructions of Genocide and Mass Violence: Society, Crisis, Identity. Routledge Studies in Genocide and Crimes Against Humanity (London and New York: Routledge, March 2017), 224 pages.

For the month of July 2017, a read-only copy is available at:

http://www.readcube.com/articles/10.4324/9781315798189?author_access_token=e4YHS-qXN_p1t1jiN9BBkwLBIUWHziPdsn0vlMIwK3Q7NHO1_JW12zPMXqcdqbyXHHgTfrDOmtACzC9qkU6jc0BeJTfqsLpKvcw7tJDlrUgzr2IBCJoJSKFd1U3oMzLH

Journal Volumes Edited
2014(co-edited with Henry Theriault) Genocide Studies International, Vol. 8, No. 2 Fall/September, 2014: 117–260.
Articles  
2017"Genocide, Revolution, and Starvation Under the Khmer Rouge," Genocide Studies International, Special Issue: Genocide by Attrition (forthcoming).
2016"Strange Legacies of the Terror: An Hegelian Analysis of the Shape and Sequence of the Khmer Rouge Purge," co-author Joshua D. Goldstein, The European Legacy, Vol. 21, No. 2, pp. 1-23.
2015"Atrocity Prevention and Western National Security:The Limitations of Making R2P All About Us," Politics and Governance, Vol. 3, No. 4, pp. 12-25.
2014(co-author Henry Theriault) "Editors’ Introduction," Genocide Studies International, Vol. 8, No. 2, pp.117–121.
2011 "Mass Atrocity Response Operations (MARO) as Partial Operationalization of R2P," Genocide Studies and Prevention: An International Journal. Vol. 6, No. 1 (Spring 2011), pp. 52–58.
2008"Theorizing Destruction: Reflections on the State of Comparative Genocide Theory," Genocide Studies and Prevention: An International Journal, Vol. 3, No. 3 (Winter 2008), pp. 309–339.
2008"The ‘Three Switches’ of Identity Construction in Genocide: The Nazi Final Solution and the Cambodian Killing Fields," Genocide Studies and Prevention: An International Journal, ­Vol. 3, No.1 (Spring 2008), pp. 5–29.
Chapters 
2013"Questioning Boundaries: What’s Old and What’s New in Comparative Genocide Theory," in Genocide Matters: Ongoing Issues and Emerging Perspectives, Joyce Apsel and Ernesto Verdeja (eds.) (Routledge, forthcoming April, 2013), Chapter 2.
2013"Do Criminal Trials Prevent Genocide? A Critical Analysis," in Impediments to The Prevention and Intervention of Genocide, Samuel Totten (ed.) (New York: Transaction Press, 2013), Chapter 9.
2011"The Role of Globalization in the Causes, Consequences, Prevention, and Punishment of Genocide," in Globalization and Human Rights in the Developing World, Derrick M. Nault and Shawn P. England (eds.) (Palgrave, 2011) pp. 193-222.
2009"Genocide in Chile?: An Assessment," co-authored with Pablo Policzer, in State, Violence, and Genocide in Latin America: The Cold War Years, Marica Esparza, Henry R. Huttenback, and Daniel Feierstein (eds.) (New York, NY: Routledge, 2009), pp. 64–80.
Book Reviews 
2014Review of Reducing Genocide To Law: Definition, Meaning, and the Ultimate Crime by Payam Akhavan in Canadian Yearbook of International Law (March 2014), pp. 666–671.
2006Review of The Killing Trap: Genocide in the Twentieth Century by Manus Midlarsky in Ethics and International Affairs, Vol. 20, No. 4 (2006), pp. 533–534.
2005Review of Gendercide and Genocide by Adam Jones (ed), on H-Net Reviews/H-Genocide (Sept. 2005).
2000Review of Totalitarianism and the Modern Conception of Politics by Michael Halberstam in Canadian Foreign Policy Journal (Fall 2000).
Other Publications
 2015"From Political Scientist to Genocide Studies Scholar and Back Again" in Advancing Genocide Studies: Personal Accounts and Insights from Scholars in the Field, Samuel Totten (ed.) (New Brunswick, New Jersey: Transaction Press, pp. 79-96.

Works In Preparation

(Book) The Role of Law in the Perpetration of Genocide.

Recent Conference Presentations

2016"Law in Genocide," Canadian Political Science Association Annual General Meeting, Calgary, AB, June 1-3, 2016.
2016Roundtable "Beyond the Will to Intervene: Genocide Prevention in the Twentieth Century," Canadian Political Science Association Annual General Meeting, Calgary, AB, June 1-3, 2016.
2016"Cultural Genocide As Moral, Scholarly, and Political Frame," From Truth to Reconciliation: Towards a Just Future for the Indigenous People of Canada Conference, McGill University University Centre for Human Rights and Legal Pluralism, Montreal, PQ, March 8-9, 2016.
2015"Comparative Genocide Studies," Colonial Conquest in the Nazi East and American West: Value and Limits of Comparative Approaches Symposium, Northern Arizona University, Flagstaff, AZ (Oct. 11-13).
2014“The Role of Law in the Perpetration of Genocide: Legitimation and the Definition of Deviance”, Conference of the International Association of Genocide Scholars, Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada, July 17–19, 2014.
2014“R2P as National Security Thesis: Atrocity Prevention and the  ‘Goldilocks Problem’”, Annual Midwest Political Science Association National Conference Chicago, Illinois , U.S.A., April 3–6, 2014. Paper nominated by panel discussant for Best Paper in International Relations.
2013“Modernity and the Logic of Exterminationist Terror: Rousseau, Hegel, and the Case of Cambodia Under the Khmer Rouge”, co-author Joshua D. Goldstein, Prairie Political Science Association Conference, Banff, Alberta, Canada, September 13–15, 2013
2012“Hegel, Genocide, and Modernity”, co-authored Joshua D. Goldstein, Annual Meeting of the Western Political Science Association, Portland, Oregon, March 2012.
2011“Comparative Genocide Theory: The Opportunities and Challenges of Multi/Interdisciplinarity”, invited participant to a workshop at the Kroc Institute for collaboration on an edited book project Rethinking and Re-imagining Genocide Studies (tentative title), Joyce Apsel and Ernesto Verdeja (eds.) (Routledge), University of Notre Dame, South Bend, Indiana, April 2011.
 2011“W2i and MARO as the Political and Military Operationalization of R2P”, Annual Meeting of the Western Political Science Association, San Antonio, Texas, April 2011.
2010“Justice v Prevention: Criminal Trials, Deterrence, and Genocide Prevention”, 68th Annual Midwest Political Science Association National Conference Chicago, Illinois, April 2010.
2010 “Justice v Prevention: Criminal Trials, Deterrence, and Genocide Prevention”, Annual Meeting of the Western Political Science Association, San Francisco, California, April 2010.
2009“Justice v Prevention: Criminal Trials, Deterrence, and Genocide Prevention”, Seventh Biennial Conference of the International Association of Genocide Scholars, Arlington, Virginia, June 2009.
 2009“Genocide in Chile? A Critical Assessment” with co-author Pablo Policzer, Annual General Meeting of the Western Political Science Association Conference, Vancouver, British Columbia, March 2009 (paper presented by co-author at the Annual General Meeting of the Latin America Studies Association, Rio de Janiero, Brazil, June 2009 and the Annual General Meeting of the International Political Science Association, Santiago, Chile, July 2009).
  

Thesis Supervisions

PhD Thesis Supervisions
2014–presentSara Skinner, PhD dissertation on the failure of peacebuilding in Sudan and South Sudan
 2014–present(co-supervisor Dr. Don Ray) Benjamin Adu Gyamfi, PhD dissertation on local government and development in Ghana
 2013–presentAndrew Basso, PhD dissertation on displacement atrocities in genocidal and non-genocidal atrocity crimes
MA Thesis Supervisions
2015-presentCamilo Torres, MA thesis on identity construction, political communication, and genocide
2012–2013(Co-Supervisor Dr. Pablo Policzer), Tobey Berriault, Unusual Suspects: Religion, Chieftaincy, and Post-Conflict Reintegration in Sierra Leone (MA Political Science)
2011–2012Jessica De Castro, MA thesis on the role of the media in Rwanda in the sexual victimization of Tutsis women during the Rwandan genocide (MA Culture and Society)
BA Honours Thesis Supervisions
2016–presentMark Santillo, Honours thesis on constitutional equality provisions and the struggle for equality rights in Canada (Law and Society Program)
2015–2016Kelvin Yudianto, Honours thesis on the Indonesian regime’s response to armed conflict in Aceh and East Timor (BA Honours Political Science)
2015–2016EmmaLee Taylor, Honours thesis on the failure of the UN to respond to human rights abuses (BA Honours Political Science)
 2014-2015Fabian Mayer, Honours thesis on the rise of rightist anti-immigration parties in the UK and Europe (BA Honours Political Science)
 2014-2015Josh Roadhouse, Honours thesis on the effect of judicial review under the Charter of Rights and Freedoms on federal Attorneys General (BA Honours Political Science)
 2014-2015(Co-Supervisor Dr. Rebecca Sullivan), Leah Schmidt, Honours thesis on the Miss Sarajevo beauty pageant as an act of resistance to sexual violence during the Bosnian war (BA Honours Women’s Studies)
 2013–2014Tina Frimpong, Honours thesis on the harm to civilians of lawful armed conflict (BA Honours Law and Society)
 2013–2014Cailean David, Honours thesis on the risk of a “resource curse” in Ghana ( BA Honours Political Science)
 2013–2014Kim Diep, Honours thesis on political protest and legitimacy in China (BA Honours Political Science)
 2011–2012Jeffery Davidson, Honours thesis on conceptions of human rights and humanitarian intervention in the Rwandan genocide (BA Honours Law and Society)
 2011–2012Lauren Montgomery, Honours thesis on transitions to democracy and the impact on minority rights in Russia, Poland, and Hungary (BA Honours Law and Society)
 2011–2012Jaclyn Dorchak, Honours thesis on the human trafficking and victimization of migrant male workers in and from East-Central Europe (BA Honours Law and Society)

Degrees

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