fragmentation can certainly be labelled an important, although not solely vital,
circumstance from which genocide may arise.
It is also important to recognise the consistent presence of economic issues as a
factor that may contribute to genocidal action. One could argue that economic issues
such as high inflation, low public spending, or high unemployment, and all of these
issues’ impact on ordinary life, would make a population much more unhappy and
subsequently willing to support extreme action – when a government exploits social
cleavages to claim certain groups are at fault for economic issues, it is likelier they
will be believed. In all three case studies, economic issues have been present. In 1994,
Rwanda was one of the world’s poorest countries, with an economy heavily dependent on agriculture and lacking any significant infrastructure. 67 The economy shrank in three of the five years prior to 1994, and GDP fell by over 50% in 1994. 68 Given the
Tutsi people historically were wealthier than the Hutu because of their place in society,
economic issues made this even more easily exploitable. A similar situation occurred
in Cambodia, where the economy was shrinking, taxation was rising and the government had borrowed two billion dollars from the US alone, 69 all resulting in a declining quality of life which made many welcome the coup that installed the Khmer Rouge. 70 Finally, the Ottoman Empire had lost significant land and resources in the
Balkan Wars and was spending significant amounts on fighting the Allied powers
during the First World War. While this may suggest that economic downturn may be a
circumstance in which genocide may occur, there is some academic disagreement.
Some, such as Brehm (2017), have argued economic factors are much less impactful than they are given credit for. 71 The fact that much economic downturn was caused by
67 Strauss, Order of Genocide , p. 202. 68 Macrotrends, Rwanda GDP 1984-2004 (2010), https://www.macrotrends.net/countries/RWA/rwanda/gdp-gross- domestic-product [accessed 11 October 2023] 69 Margaret Slocomb, An Economic History of Cambodia in the Twentieth Century (Singapore: NUS Press, 2010), p. 163. 70 Rummel, p. 167. 71 Nyseth Brehm, p. 78.
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