Ander Bjørn Hansen :
'Genocide - a definitorial approach'

The concept of genocide has been widely debated within the field of genocide studies. Various attempts to define or redefine genocide have been put forward during the 50 years since the concept was first coined in 1944 by Raphael Lemkin and the UN definition was passed by the General Assembly in 1948. This paper is an attempt to assess the development of definitions of genocide from its origin until today. The emphasis is both on how this debate has structured research within this particular field and on how the criteria for what constitutes a genocide have fluctuated during this period.