16825 - Applying the Link Theory on Genocide

N. Lygeros
Translated from the Greek by Vicky Baklessi

One of the problems that we encounter in the studies of Genocide is the positions of history and the historians. And the reason is simple. History starts after the fact and the historians are involved in the history of the after. So we do not have elements for the history of the prior. And the question transforms to the following: Who writes the history of the prior and who studies it? The answer is Strategy and the Strategists. Hence a complete analysis of Genocide must have elements both from history and from Strategy. So there appears also the requirements of mental schemes which belong to Strategy. In this context, it is necessary also to separate the concept of war from the concept of Genocide, since it doesn’t work within this context. So the mental schemes shouldn’t be entirely military, while they are strategic. In this field come various theories to reinforce the instruments of the study. Some of these are Graph Theory, Knot Theory and Link Theory. The codification of Genocide through the Graph Theory, can be effective for the flow charts, but it is not sufficient for a complete analysis. Because a Genocide is not a summation of cases, neither its generalization is a casuistry. As a multiplicity it is not the total of its parts, because it also has a structure which is not incorporated in the local analysis. On the contrary, Link Theory is entirely by nature holistic, as the Knot Theory is, only that it doesn’t deal with just one object like this, since a link may be made by many. In this manner we may use also Topostrategy and Chronostrategy depending on whether the strategies followed by the genociders are examined topologically. Because when we examine only the genocidology as a thematology, we cannot of course make any strategic analysis. While we must examine both sides, when we indeed want to understand and interpret the given data. So a complete analysis is necessary and a holistic approach to see the invisible mental schemes of strategy that will record the subsequent history. In this manner we can in addition learn the characteristics of the beginning of a process which will lead to a Genocide. In essence, with this methodology we can interpret also the stages of Stanton, since the codification allows the enhancement of the mental schemes which supports them. Link Theory provides the capability to examine Genocide as a whole and not be analyzed in parts and cases, something which degenerates it. So genocidology acquires a new deductive instrument, so that it can be not only history of the after, but also of the prior to be able to avoid effectively cases that would lead to Genocide.