Coming to a New Understanding of the 1994 Rwanda Genocide

Allan Stam, U-M Professor of Political Science and Faculty Associate at the Center for Political Studies, will discuss the genocide, civil war, vendetta killings and random violence that took place in Rwanda in 1994.

In their recent NSF-funded work, Stam and his colleagues drew from a number of data sources, and their conclusions call into question much of the conventional wisdom about the the violence. They find that there were several forms of political violence being enacted at once (genocide, politicide, civil war, random violence and vendetta killings), that the extremist Hutu government as well as the Rwandan Patriotic Front engaged in violent activity against Rwandan citizens, and that the majority of victims were likely Hutu and not Tutsi. These findings have implications for public policy, advocacy, humanitarian intervention as well as post-conflict reconstruction.

Additional information about Stam's work.

• DEI