institutionsgenocide

Institutional genocide is a term used in some academic debates to describe genocide that is enabled or carried out through formal institutions rather than by individuals acting alone. It emphasizes how state agencies, the military, police, courts, bureaucracies, and organizations can implement policies and practices that systematically destroy a protected group. Destruction can occur not only through direct killings but also through deliberate conditions of life, deprivation, confinement, or forced displacement produced by institutions.

Legally, genocide is defined by the 1948 Genocide Convention as acts intended to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnic, racial, or religious group, including killing, serious harm, and the creation of conditions of life intended to destroy. Some scholars argue that institutional policy or administrative neglect that aims at destruction meets this standard, while others remain cautious about classifying it separately.

Mechanisms include policies that restrict access to food, water, medicine, or shelter; deliberate overcrowding; forced relocation or internment; discriminatory laws; and obstruction of humanitarian aid. The bureaucratic execution of these policies, together with propaganda and coercion, can turn administration into a tool of destruction.

Historical discussions note that state institutions often play central roles in genocidal campaigns, coordinating planning and implementation. The term is debated among historians, legal scholars, and human rights advocates, with attention to intent, scale, and accountability within complex institutional networks.

See also: genocide; structural violence; necropolitics; bureaucratic evil; state violence.