http://web.inter.nl.net/users/Paul.Treanor/genocide.html
GENOCIDE, WORLD ORDER, AND STATE FORMATION
Paul Treanor
ABSTRACT. This article examines the basis for the ethics of genocide: why there is a concept of
genocide, and its origins. The concept is identified both as propaganda and as part of the
legitimation of nationalism. Nationalism is itself a spatial form of the legitimation of political
decisions - nations limit territorial "opting out". The article lists the claims of nations, which
underlie the present world order: claims to global territorial control, to inclusivity, to a monopoly
of state formation and thus autonomy, and to legitimacy unlimited in time. Since these features
combine to block developments which are themselves legitimate, it is concluded that a
contra-nationalism is legitimate. It is argued that the concept of genocide, especially cultural
genocide, was in effect created to block such measures: its validity is rejected. As illustration
some examples are given of current issues of "national identity versus Europe", and possible
changes in state formation process in a post-national Europe are briefly indicated.