POL133 Week 12 - Readings: Violence and Politics: Globalization's Paradox - Notes

Introduction: Violence and Politics

• Violence is increasing globally, occurring in both developed and developing countries.
• It manifests as political and economic disputes, identity differences, and oppression of women and minorities.
• Fragile governments are weakened by civil wars, while stable governments ignore brutality based on race, religion, poverty, ethnicity, or sexuality.
• Rapid economic change is associated with rising violence.
• Internal violence is paradoxical during democratization and economic growth.
• Clinton (1994) predicted democratization would neutralize conflict and economic activity would foster stability.
• Snyder: Increased political participation can lead to ethnic conflict.
• The book analyzes violence patterns in various contexts to understand its dynamics.
• Violence devastates and undermines social trust.
• Some argue violence is too broad for scientific scrutiny, but the book asserts that understanding violence requires marshaling intellectual resources to analyze specific cases.
• Grappling with civil war, strife, genocide, terrorism, hate crime, and human rights abuse is essential for building stronger democratic societies.
• Political science has only intermittently addressed political violence within countries, with focus mainly on war between countries.
• John Keane criticizes the lack of reflection on violence's causes, effects, and implications.
• Hannah Arendt distinguishes between power and violence.
  • Power: ability of a population to act on behalf of its beliefs.
  • Violence: physical instruments of force used to destroy power.
  • "Power and violence are opposites: where the one rules absolutely, the other is absent."
• Violence can subvert or defeat power.
• The relationship between violence and power needs reevaluation in a postindustrial, postideological, and integrated world.
• Formal democracy, economic production, and social mobilization require a new understanding of the link between power, politics, and violence.
• Six themes run through the book:
  1. State power and governmental policy to handle violence.
  2. Political regime change inflames violence.
  3. Persistent violence and state rights abuses exist in advanced democracies.
  4. Economic changes are associated with rising violence.
  5. Violent scapegoating of minorities persists.
  6. Violence as a response to the state.

Exercise of State Power

• The state has a claim to the legitimate use of force (Max Weber).
• Commitment is compromised when state institutions fail to protect groups, abuses go unpunished, or criminal justice systems fail to punish violent acts.
• States may lose control over institutions or implement policies that foster violence.
• Examples:
  • Chile: Centralized government determines police violence levels.
  • Argentina and Brazil: Decentralization leads to variations in police violence.
  • United States: Federalism allowed denial of civil rights to blacks after the Civil War.
• Assessing violence requires consideration of formal rules and actual practices of state officials.

Violence in the Context of Regime Transition

• Violence is part of the regime transition process.
• Democratization has reshaped every region in the past twenty years.
• Countries are far from consolidating democracy due to corruption, political pacts, economic strains, and the power of armed forces.
• Many regimes are stuck between authoritarianism and democratic consolidation.
• Violence is a major obstacle to democratic consolidation.
• Violence may divert transition away from democracy toward authoritarianism.
• Violence endangers democratic regimes and includes ethnic violence, protests, police violence, and organized crime.
• Studies of violence should link to changes in state-society relations.
• Changes in political order raise ethnic antagonism, while greater recognition of women's rights spurs backlash.

Violence Persists in Advanced Economies and Consolidated Democracies

• Violence highlights general trends and national histories.
• Racism and gun violence in the United States show that a strong state and economy do not automatically translate into civic peace.
• Skepticism of dividing the world into zones of turmoil and peace.
• Many developing countries have low violence levels.
• The United States has high incarceration rates and rights abuses against minorities and immigrants.
• Amnesty International reported persistent human rights violations in the United States.
• Violence by groups opposing abortion and civil rights underscores the persistence of violent acts.

Relationship Between Economics and Violence

• Economics is intrinsically connected with violence.
• Economic change can expose tensions among groups divided by identity.
• Unequal access to services, favoritism in spending, controls over assets, and dependency policies aggravate tensions.
• Economic relations fuel civil wars, rebel movements, and street protests.
• Privatization, cuts in state services, and austerity measures generate violent protest.
• Violence subsides if economic reform benefits are felt.
• Inequalities, shrinking middle class, wealth disparity, private security, and exposure to material goods without means contribute to violence.
• Violence is aggravated by global economic trends.
• The spread of capital and standardized financial regulations clash with disparities in labor rights.
• Increasing environmental and population pressures set off scrambles for resources.

Role of Society and Societal Groups in Fomenting Violence

• Violence has become intrinsic in intrasocietal relations, caused by or reacting to state power.
• Civil wars and violent crime generate vigilante violence.
• Vigilante violence results from distrust of law enforcement but grows beyond legal reforms.

How Social Groups Use Violence in Interactions with the State

• Citizens confront state institutions through protests or revolutionary movements.
• Theories of violence have implications for democratic politics.
• The issue is whether demands can be met within existing frameworks or require comprehensive change.
• Questioning romantic conceptions of violence and pacifism.
• Seeking to limit violence while recognizing its justification under certain conditions.
• Analyzing the relationship of politics and violence to inform strategies for building democracies.

Contributions to the Volume

• Topics range from pro-life violence to militant nonviolence, hate crimes to state repression, political Islam to private armies, fear to economics.
• Contributions address violence as:
  • A statement about the legitimacy of the liberal capitalist state.
  • An expression of hostility toward disadvantaged groups.
  • A potential strategy for social movements.
  • A tool of physical conflict and male domination.
  • A legal matter for court adjudication.
  • A means by which social forces acquire political resources.
• The insertion of violence in political life does not assume a predictable form, and political implications are not always clear.
• The book includes:
  • Charles Tilly's discussion of public violence typologies.
  • Ulric Shannon's analysis of private armies.
  • Mark Ungar addresses repression of sexual minorities.
  • Bridget Welsh examines violence in East Asia.
  • Najib Ghadbian analyzes the role of political Islam in violent conflicts.
  • Lisa Sharlach examines rape as an instrument of war.
  • Carol Mason investigates political ideology and strategy within the pro-life movement.
  • Sally Avery Bermanzohn explores competing political strategies in the U.S. Civil Rights movement.
  • Roger MacGinty interrogates the concept of "hate crime".
  • Margarita L6pez Maya, Luis E. Lander, and Mark Ungar address the link between internal violence and economic policy.
  • Jeffrey Murer explains how identity formation can stimulate violence.
  • John Keane observes the neglect of fear by political philosophers and social scientists.

Notes

• Note 1: 1994 State of the Union address
• Note 2: Jack Snyder, From Voting to Violence: Democratization and Nationalist Conflict (New York: Norton, 2000), p. 27.
• Note 3: John Keane, Reflections on Violence (New York: Verso, 1996), p. 6.
• Note 4: Hannah Arendt, On Violence (New York: Harcourt Brace, 1970), p. 56.
• Note 5: Max Singer and Aaron Wildavsky, The Real World Order: Zones of Peace/Zones of Turmoil (New York: Chatham House, 1996).
• Note 6: Keane, Reflections on Violence, p. 4.
• Note 7: USA: Rights for All (New York: Amnesty International, 1998), p. 149.