Intention and Genocide

After describing the Genocide Convention, this paper first considers how the Counterfactual Test might help in determining whether an act was committed with genocidal intent even when defensive military action was also involved. It then considers a problem with the Counterfactual Test and how one might avoid that problem. Finally, it shows how recent philosophical work on the relation between intention and moral and legal permissibility can bear on the correctness of the Genocide Convention itself. If what it argues is correct, more attention should be paid to the soundness of the Genocide Convention itself than to how to meet the requirements for applying it (e.g., how to identify the presence of a genocidal intention).