Why the Failed Response to Genocide?

DARFUR Sudan

As genocide continues in Sudan, the fearsome janjaweed militias and Sudan's army are again preying on African villagers in Darfur, in a lopsided confrontation that has killed hundreds of thousands of black Africans.

Genocide - the murder of civilians based on their ethnicity -- came roaring into public consciousness after Nazi Germany slaughtered 6 million Jews during World War II. Yet despite cries of "never again," genocide has happened again: In Cambodia, in Rwanda, and now in Darfur and the Democratic Republic of Congo. What causes genocide, and how can we mount a stronger response to it? The contributing factors usually include war, social unrest, ethnic rivalries, economic uncertainty and a strong state, says Scott Straus, a University of Wisconsin-Madison political scientist.