Editing Genocide (section)

== Causes ==
{{see also|Risk factors for genocide|War and genocide}}
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| quote = We have been reproached for [[Armenian genocide|making no distinction between the innocent Armenians and the guilty]]: but that was utterly impossible in view of the fact that those who are innocent today might be guilty tomorrow. The concern for the safety of Turkey simply had to silence all other concerns.
| source = —[[Talaat Pasha]] in {{lang|de|[[Berliner Tageblatt]]}}, [https://www.deutsche-digitale-bibliothek.de/newspaper/item/ODY7RTSKJEM56WMH3FYPHV3FPJDKPRNO?issuepage=4 4 May 1916]{{sfn|Ihrig|2016|pp=162–163}}{{sfn|Moses|2023|p=32}}
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[[File:Popper_en_caceria.jpg|thumb|''[[Estancia|Estancieros]]'' and gold prospectors launched a [[Selknam genocide|campaign of extermination]] against the Native Selknam peoples, Argentina, in the 19th century; in the image [[Julius Popper]] targeting Indigenous peoples, 1886]]
The colloquial understanding of genocide is heavily influenced by [[the Holocaust]] as its archetype and is conceived as innocent victims [[hate crime|targeted because of racism]] rather than for any political reason.{{sfn|Moses|2023|p=19}} Genocide is not an end of itself, but a means to another end—often chosen by perpetrators after other options failed.{{sfn|Kathman|Wood|2011|pp=737–738}} Most are ultimately caused by its perpetrators perceiving an existential threat to their own existence, although this belief is usually exaggerated and can be entirely imagined.{{sfn|Stone|Jinks|2022|p=258}}{{sfn|Moses|2023|pp=16–17, 27}}{{sfn|Nyseth Nzitatira|2022|p=52}} Particular threats to existing elites that have been correlated to genocide include both successful and attempted [[regime change]] via assassination, coups, revolutions, and [[civil war]]s.{{sfn|Nyseth Nzitatira|2022|pp=52–53}}

Most genocides were not planned long in advance, but emerged through a process of [[cumulative radicalization|gradual radicalization]], often escalating to genocide following resistance by those targeted.{{sfn|Jones|2023|pp=48–49}} Genocide perpetrators often fear—usually irrationally—that if they do not commit atrocities, they will suffer a similar fate as they inflict on their victims.{{sfn|Stone|2013|p=146}}{{sfn|Moyd|2022|p=245}} Despite perpetrators' utilitarian goals,{{sfn|Maynard|2022|p=308}} ideological factors are necessary to explain why genocide seems to be a desirable solution to the identified security problem.{{sfn|Maynard|2022|p=308}}{{sfn|Stone|2013|p=146}} Noncombatants are harmed because of the [[collective guilt]] ascribed to an entire people—defined according to race but targeted because of its supposed security threat.{{sfn|Moses|2021|p=329}} Other motives for genocide have included theft, [[land grabbing]], and revenge.{{sfn|Kiernan|2023|p=6}}

War is often described as the single most important enabler of genocide{{sfn|Moyd|2022|p=233}} providing the weaponry, ideological justification, polarization between allies and enemies, and cover for carrying out extreme violence.{{sfn|Moyd|2022|pp=236–239}} A large proportion of genocides occurred under the course of imperial expansion and power consolidation.{{sfn|Lemos|Taylor|Kiernan|2023|p=49}} Although genocide is typically organized around pre-existing identity boundaries, it has the outcome of strengthening them.{{sfn|Lemos|Taylor|Kiernan|2023|p=50}} Although many scholars have emphasized the role of [[ideology]] in genocide, there is little agreement in how ideology contributes to violent outcomes;{{sfn|Maynard|2022|p=307}} others have cited rational explanations for atrocities.{{sfn|Maynard|2022|p=308}}