Political Violence - Study Guide

Political Violence

The use of physical force to kill, injure, or harm human beings to achieve political goals.

Johan Galtung's Typology of Violence

Expands the definition of violence to include avoidable actions that cause human impairment or harm, encompassing both physical and structural forms.

Thomas Hobbes

A philosopher who posited that in the state of nature, life is a 'war of all against all' and that a sovereign power is necessary to maintain order through the threat of violence.

Max Weber's Definition of the State

The state is an entity that successfully claims a monopoly on the legitimate use of physical force within a given territory.

Carl Schmitt's 'Friend/Enemy' Distinction

The fundamental political distinction where the potential for violence defines relationships and identifies who is considered a threat.

Kalyvas's Typology of Political Violence

Categorizes political violence based on the perpetrator (state or non-state actor) and the target (state or non-state entity).

Genocide

The intentional destruction of a national, ethnic, racial, or religious group.

Ethnic Cleansing

The forced removal of a particular ethnic group from a territory to create an ethnically homogeneous state.

Legitimacy

The belief that a state's power is rightful and justified, often linked to its ability to manage violence.

Monopoly on Violence

The exclusive right of the state to use physical force within its territory.

Absolute Enmity

Total denial of the other, leading to dehumanization and the unleashing of unrestrained violence.

Instrumentality

The use of violence as a tool to achieve another form of violence or political objective.

State of Exception

A situation where the sovereign suspends the normal legal order to deal with an emergency.

Interstate War

Armed conflict between two or more states.

Civil War

Armed conflict within a state, typically between the government and one or more rebel groups.

Revolution

A rapid and fundamental transformation of a society's state and class structure.

Terrorism

The use of violence by non-state actors to intimidate a large audience beyond the immediate victims for political purposes.

Conceptual Stretching

The process by which a concept loses its specific meaning and becomes overgeneralized.

Ontology of Violence

The underlying assumptions about the nature and origins of human violence that influence political theories.

Escalation

The process in which violence intensifies and transforms from one type to another, such as protests escalating into riots.