The genesis of Genocide is often associated with domestic factors. However, scholars have argued for the need to capture the international dimensions of genocide, insisting that genocide, after all, occurs within the framework of an international system. Since instances of genocide have increased parallel to the emergence of the institutional world order, this paper aims to investigate the structural relationship between the new world order and genocide by examining the normativity of its institutions. Through a hybrid approach it calls normative tracing, the paper finds that institutionalization enables genocide by creating structural barriers that prevent its deterrence. By embedding the norm of non-genocide within the language of sovereignty, institutionalism pits the new norm of non-genocide directly against the system’s foundational norm. Hence, this paper makes the case that institutionalism enables genocide by structurally failing to disable it.