Introduction

This chapter introduces the field of perpetrator studies, the topic of perpetrators of mass atrocity crimes, and provides short summaries of all the remaining chapters. It first describes perpetrator studies as a newly emerging, inter-, and multi-disciplinary field of scholarly interest focusing on perpetrators of mass atrocities, in which we include genocide, crimes against humanity, war crimes, and terrorism. Secondly, it demarcates the scope of the book and discusses the subject of perpetrator studies—the perpetrator. Perpetrators of mass atrocity crimes as a category is contested and complex. We deliberately use it in a broad sense to include all individuals that are involved in one way or another in the perpetration of mass atrocities. Lastly, it explains the focus on theories, methods, and evidence, and briefly introduces all the book’s chapters