Bureaucratic quality and the severity of genocide and politicide

Abstract

ABSTRACT First generation genocide scholars viewed bureaucratic quality as essential to government mass atrocity. However, second generation scholars view bureaucratic quality as an obstacle to government mass violence. I analyze the relationship between bureaucratic quality and killing severity econometrically to help resolve this debate. I find that stronger bureaucracies increase the severity of ongoing campaigns of genocide and politicide. These findings indicate that first generation scholars are correct in emphasizing the importance of bureaucratic quality in helping the government realize its genocide or politicide. The results also indicate that our understanding of the importance of bureaucratic quality is not driven by the German bureaucracy during the Holocaust. Instead, bureaucratic quality has a significant influence on the severity of genocide and politicide in many recent cases of government mass murder that have occurred in less developed states, as well.