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Scholars can learn many things about genocide from making comparisons across time and space.  Broadly, two strategies exist: examining known instances of genocide (or of mass atrocity that possess some characteristics of genocide) to search for commonalities, or examining a broader spectrum of cases to consider why genocide (or mass atrocity) arose in some instances and not in others.

Much of the work considered in the case-specific case studies contributes implicitly to the comparative genocide project – although, for some scholars, the project of comparing traumatic events like genocide risks reducing intense human experiences to mere data points. As such, not all case-specific work is meant to be comparative, although it may nonetheless contribute to our broader understanding of genocide.

Conversely, when comparative research successfully identifies factors that are present in all (or most) cases, including in a single case where it may not appear prominent and might easily be otherwise overlooked, can help us to understand even one specific genocide.