Mass Sexual Violence in Darfur: An Analysis of Macro-, Meso-, and Micro-Level Variables

Mass sexual violence is a common phenomenon during conflict, occurring across the world and historically over time. Many theories of why it occurs have been argued in the criminological literature, many focusing on group processes, and others on individual perpetrators. This paper analyses the incidence of mass sexual violence in Darfur, Sudan. It discusses the interplay of broad, macro-level variables with
meso- and micro-level variables and finds that it is not one theory that explains mass sexual violence in this context, but an interaction and compounding of many different variables, all of which contribute to the occurrence of the phenomenon.