A framework for change.
The Ten Stages of Genocide
A framework developed by genocide scholar Gregory H. Stanton, it serves not as a sequence, but instead a map of how ordinary societies become capable of mass atrocity.
In 1996 the genocide scholar Gregory H. Stanton presented a model of genocide as a process rather than an event. Originally eight stages, later expanded to ten, it describes the conditions and decisions that make mass atrocity possible — and the points at which it can be interrupted.
The stages are not a countdown or a sequential series of “steps.” Stanton is explicit that the process is not linear: stages operate simultaneously, each is itself a process, and a society can sit in one for decades. The value of the framework is not prediction. It is recognition — giving people language for what they are seeing while there is still time to act.
Below is each stage, what it looks like in practice, and a case study from this series examining how it unfolded somewhere real.
“Genocide is a process that develops in stages that are predictable but not inexorable. At each stage, genocidal processes can be interrupted by targeted prevention measures.”
Gregory Stanton · Ten Stages of Genocide
The Ten Stages, Defined.
These stages are non-linear — they overlap, repeat, and occur simultaneously. Each stage is defined below, along with the corresponding case study written and published with immersive audio readings. Most importantly, each case study outlines steps anyone can take immediately to promote change.
01
Classification
People are sorted into “us and them” by ethnicity, race, religion, or nationality. Every society classifies; the danger rises in societies without mixed categories, where the line between groups is treated as absolute.
Case study: From ‘Us’ to ‘Them’: Classification in Darfur
02
Symbolization
Names and symbols are attached to the classifications. Symbolization becomes dangerous when symbols are imposed on unwilling members of a targeted group — a yellow star, a coloured scarf, a required identity marker.
Case study: Threads of Resistance: Symbolization in the Cambodian Genocide
03
Discrimination
A dominant group uses law, custom, and political power to deny the rights of another. Citizenship, movement, education, and legal identity are restricted or removed outright.
Case study: In Darkness and Separation: Women, the Hazara, and Discrimination in Afghanistan
04
Dehumanization
One group denies the humanity of another. People are equated with vermin, insects, or disease. Propaganda does the work of overcoming the ordinary human revulsion against killing.
Case study: “Like Moths to a Flame”: Dehumanization in the Rwandan Genocide
05
Organization
Genocide is always organized. Usually the state is involved, often working through militias so it can deny responsibility. Units are trained, armed, and given a plan.
Case study: The Architecture of Annihilation: Organized Genocide in Myanmar
06
Polarization
Extremists drive the groups apart. Hate propaganda intensifies, laws forbid contact between groups, and moderates from the perpetrators’ own side are silenced, arrested, or killed first.
Case study: Splintered Lines: Polarization and Division in the Bosnian Genocide
07
Preparation
Plans are made and disguised. Leaders reach for euphemism — “ethnic cleansing,” “counterterrorism,” “resettlement.” Populations are identified, lists are drawn up, people are separated and moved.
Case study: Before Dawn, By Design: Preparation and Process in the Holocaust
08
Persecution
Victims are identified, separated, and stripped of property. Groups are confined, deported, starved, or forced into camps and forced labour. Killings often begin here.
Case study: Human Quotas: Persecution and Consumption in the Genocide of Xinjiang’s Uyghurs
09
Extermination
Mass killing begins. It is called “extermination” rather than murder because the victims are, by this point, not regarded as human. This is the stage the law recognises as genocide — and by which prevention has already failed.
Case study: “It Ends Like This”: Extermination and Denial in Armenia and Beyond
10
Denial
Denial is the final stage in the Ten Stages of Genocide model, defined as the systematic attempt by perpetrators or later generations to cover up evidence, minimize the scale of atrocities, blame the victims, and deny that a crime took place.
Case study: “It Ends Like This”: Extermination and Denial in Armenia and Beyond
