The Hazards of Social Rank

2020 ◽  
pp. 117-129
Author(s):  
T. K. Wilson
Keyword(s):  
Political Violence ◽  
Social Rank ◽  
Political Elites ◽  
Historical Trend ◽  
Subsequent Discussion ◽  
The Way

In any longer-term consideration of the evolution of political violence, it is tempting to start at the very top: with the killing of leaders. This chapter follows the general convention of treating assassination as the slaying of truly elite figures: the rulers. Next the discussion broadens out from killing to hostage-taking: another violent practice that in the more distant past tended to be directed exclusively at political elites but which has since diffused to catch holiday-makers and tourists. Finally, and very briefly, this chapter notes the general historical trend towards a ‘democratization’ of target-widening from the (upper) classes to the wider masses; preparing the way for a subsequent discussion of the specific ways and means by which the threat of political violence has come to be diffused more equitably throughout society.

scholarly journals The Special Apparatus (al-Niẓām al-Khāṣṣ): The Rise of Nationalist Militancy in the Ranks of the Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood

Religions ◽  
2022 ◽  
Vol 13 (1) ◽  
pp. 77
Author(s):  
Ahmed Abou El Zalaf
Keyword(s):  
Political Violence ◽  
Systematic Study ◽  
Muslim Brotherhood ◽  
British Colonization ◽  
Special Apparatus ◽  
Depth Study ◽  
History Of ◽  
Shed Light ◽  
The Way

Existing scholarship has largely focused on the role of Sayyid Qutb’s ideas when analyzing the Muslim Brotherhood’s violent history. Perceiving Qutb’s ideas as paving the way for radical interpretations of jihad, many studies linked the Brotherhood’s violent history with this key ideologue. Yet, in so doing, many studies overlooked the importance of the Special Apparatus in shaping this violent history of the Brotherhood, long before Qutb joined the organization. Through an in-depth study of memoires and accounts penned by Brotherhood members and leaders, and a systematic study of British and American intelligence sources, I attempt to shed light on this understudied formation of the Brotherhood, the Special Apparatus. This paper looks at the development of anti-colonial militancy in Egypt, particularly the part played by the Brotherhood until 1954. It contends that political violence, in the context of British colonization, antedated the Brotherhood’s foundation, and was in some instances considered as a legitimate and even distinguished duty among anti-colonial factions. The application of violence was on no account a part of the Brotherhood’s core strategy, but the organization, nevertheless, established an armed and secret wing tasked with the fulfillment of what a segment of its members perceived as the duty of anti-colonial jihad.

A Protest-Cycle Resolution of the Repression/Popular-Protest Paradox

1993 ◽  
Vol 17 (3) ◽  
pp. 457-484 ◽  
Author(s):  
Charles D. Brockett
Keyword(s):  
At Risk ◽  
Collective Action ◽  
Social Science ◽  
Political Violence ◽  
Human Behavior ◽  
Central American ◽  
Political Elites ◽  
Human Beings ◽  
Ordinary People ◽  
State Terrorism

Many people [in Guatemala] did begin to join the guerrillas, while many more were sympathetic or quietly supportive. The guerrillas are the only remaining source of defense left to a community or family. I know of villages that experienced actual massacres against innocent campesinos, who were not even members of coops. The survivors of these massacres would often turn to the guerrillas. With all their anger about the murders of their kin and neighbors, there was nowhere else to turn.—quoted in S. Davis and J. Hodson, Witnesses to Political Violence in GuatemalaCentral american events of recent decades show human behavior at both its most courageous and its most barbaric. The opposing phenomena of popular mobilization and state terrorism pose some of the most profound questions that can be asked by social science. How can we explain the willingness of political elites and their agents to slay thousands—tens of thousands—of their fellow human beings, even when their victims are unarmed? Conversely, how do we account for ordinary people undertaking collective action under circumstances so dangerous that even their lives are at risk?

Institutions and Economic Policy

2021 ◽  
pp. 41-63
Author(s):  
Paolo Ramazzotti
Keyword(s):  
Economic Policy ◽  
Social Welfare ◽  
Open System ◽  
Voting Behavior ◽  
System Perspective ◽  
Subsequent Discussion ◽  
Neoliberal Policies ◽  
The Way

This chapter discusses the problems associated to an inadequate theory of economic policy. It begins by presenting the mainstream and heterodox approaches to policy. It contends that, according to the mainstream, policy must guarantee efficiency or, at the very least, consider it a key constraint, whereas according to heterodox economists, it may have a broader variety of goals. The latter's open system perspective implies that changes in the structure of the economy eventually feedback both on how people conceive of the economy and social welfare and on how the economy itself functions. The relevance of this issue, which is understated, emerges from the subsequent discussion of how neoliberal policies have changed the structure of the economy, the way people conceive of the economy, and even their voting behavior.

Geography and War, Geographers and Peace

2004 ◽  
Author(s):  
Virginie Mamadouh
Keyword(s):  
Political Violence ◽  
Three Dimensions ◽  
Peace Studies ◽  
War And Peace ◽  
Geographical Knowledge ◽  
Natural Event ◽  
Urban Riots ◽  
Peace Processes ◽  
Academic Geography ◽  
The Way

La géographie, ça sert d’abord à faire la guerre—geography serves, first and foremost, to wage war. Yves Lacoste made this bold statement the title of a pamphlet against French academic geography in the mid-1970s. He not only exposed the historical importance of geographical knowledge in the waging of war and, more generally speaking, the controlling of people and territories, he also attacked academic and school geography for concealing its political and strategic importance. Geography (i.e., the mapping of the world out there) indeed has strong connections to rulers and their attempt to control territories and peoples. On the other hand, geographers have in the past two decades been keen to promote geography as peace studies. This chapter examines the ways in which geographers have dealt with war and peace since the establishment of modern Western academic geography. It addresses both the way in which geographers have conceptualized and studied war and peace processes and the way in which geography has been applied and geographers have been implicated in these very processes. The result is an evaluation of whether geography has been converted from a discipline for war into a discipline for peace, to paraphrase O’Loughlin and Heske. This is done by considering three dimensions for which antagonist positions (war minded versus peace minded) are anticipated: the perception of war (a natural event versus an undesirable collective behavior), the focus of geographical studies that deal with war and peace (functions of war versus causes and consequences of war), and the advocated application of geographical knowledge (to win a war versus to prevent a war and to foster peace). War and peace do not seem to belong to the vocabulary of geography. The terms have no entries in the Dictionary of Human Geography or in the Dictionary of Geopolitics. This is mainly because war and peace are rather vague concepts. In this chapter, a limited conception of war has been chosen: political violence between states, that is, armed conflict. Therefore, the review neglects urban riots, social struggles, and related conflicts.

Are Some Things Unrepresentable?

2011 ◽  
Vol 28 (7-8) ◽  
pp. 85-102 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alexander Galloway
Keyword(s):  
Present Article ◽  
Political Violence ◽  
Data Visualization ◽  
Information Society ◽  
Information Network ◽  
Visual Form ◽  
Jacques Ranciere ◽  
First Time ◽  
Information Aesthetics ◽  
The Way

Jacques Rancière, in his essay ‘Are Some Things Unrepresentable?’, puts forth a challenge that is ever more pertinent to our times. What constitutes the unrepresentable today? Rancière frames his answer in a very specific way: the question of unrepresentability leads directly to the way in which political violence may or may not be put into an image. Offering an alternative to Rancière’s approach, the present article turns instead to the information society, asking if and how something might be unrepresentable in a world saturated by data and information. Thus one approaches the issue of transparency and secrecy here from the perspective of the relative perspicuity (or opacity) of data visualization. Two theses structure the argument, first that ‘data have no necessary visual form’ and, second, that ‘only one visualization has ever been made of an information network’. The tension between these two theses leads to a disconcerting conclusion, that the triumph of information aesthetics precipitates a decline in informatic perspicuity. One is obligated therefore to call for a strong reinvigoration of poetics and hermeneutics within the digital universe, so that representation as such can take place, perhaps for the first time.

Wreck/Conciliation? The Politics of Truth Commissions in Thailand

2014 ◽  
Vol 14 (3) ◽  
pp. 377-404 ◽  
Author(s):  
Duncan McCargo ◽  
Naruemon Thabchumpon
Keyword(s):  
Political Violence ◽  
Truth Commissions ◽  
Security Forces ◽  
Reconciliation Commission ◽  
The Government ◽  
The Military ◽  
The Way

More than ninety people died in political violence linked to the March–May 2010 “redshirt” protests in Bangkok. The work of the government-appointed Truth for Reconciliation Commission of Thailand (TRCT) illustrates the potential shortcomings of seeing quasi-judicial commissions as a catch-all solution for societies struggling to deal with the truth about their recent pasts. The 2012 TRCT report was widely criticized for blaming too much of the violence on the actions of rogue elements of the demonstrators and failing to focus tightly on the obvious legal transgressions of the security forces. By failing strongly to criticize the role of the military in most of the fatal shootings, the TRCT arguably helped pave the way for the 2014 coup. Truth commissions that are unable to produce convincing explanations of the facts they examine may actually prove counterproductive. Following Quinn and Wilson, we argue in this article that weak truth commissions are prone to politicization and are likely to produce disappointing outcomes, which may even be counterproductive.

scholarly journals The geopolitics of militarism and humanitarianism

2021 ◽  
pp. 030913252110322
Author(s):  
Killian McCormack ◽  
Emily Gilbert
Keyword(s):  
Political Violence ◽  
Military Intervention ◽  
Military Deployment ◽  
Humanitarian Crises ◽  
Geographical Perspective ◽  
The Military ◽  
The Way

In this article, we trace the interconnections between humanitarianism and militarism. We highlight the significance of a geographical perspective in emphasizing the spatial and multiscalar dimensions of this changing relationship, particularly in Western states. In doing so, we reveal the violent geographies produced through militarized humanitarianism and demonstrate the ways political violence can be obscured through invocations of humanitarianism. We look at five overlapping lines of enquiry: the way humanitarianism is used to modulate war; the rationalization of military intervention as humanitarian; military deployment in response to humanitarian crises; the military take-up of humanitarian-style practices; and weapons development and humanitarianism.

scholarly journals El Diario de Francisca: Representaciones infantiles sobre la violencia política en la vida cotidiana durante los 70 / Francisca’s private diary: Childhood representations of political violence in everyday life during the 70s

2018 ◽  
pp. 16-26
Author(s):  
Daniela Jara
Keyword(s):  
Everyday Life ◽  
Political Violence ◽  
Cultural Practice ◽  
La Niña ◽  
Military Coup ◽  
La Nina ◽  
Sociedad Civil ◽  
The Military ◽  
The Way ◽  
Violencia Politica

En este artículo se propone una lectura del Diario de Francisca, un registro autobiográfico escrito en plenos días de la Unidad Popular y el golpe de Estado por una niña de 11 años, miembro de una familia urbana de clase media alta. Luego de situar brevemente al diario íntimo o de vida como una práctica cultural propia de la modernidad, se analiza la manera en que el texto ilumina las operaciones a través de las cuales la niña va habitando el mundo, entramadas en dinámicas socio-afectivas mediadas, interrumpidas o potenciadas por la clase. Se sugiere que las representaciones infantiles articuladas en la escritura del diario íntimo muestran diversos aspectos de la producción y transmisión de la memoria de la violencia política, y de la relación con los contextos de su producción. El Diario describe una escena de la violencia política en que ésta, lejos de producirse de manera intempestiva, ya estaba instalada en las formas de la vida cotidiana de la Unidad Popular (UP).  Así, la voz de la niña nos permite ver cómo la violencia política está en parte instalada y cómo va instalándose en la sociedad civil durante la UP, ya no sólo entre víctimas y perpetradores, sino también entre los niños, quienes participan de ésta, la negocian y recrean o reproducen. Palabras claves: diario íntimo, violencia política, representaciones infantiles AbstractThis article focuses on Francisca's Diary, an autobiographical record written during the Unidad Popular (UP) period, more specifically in 1973. Francisca, an 11 year old girl, member of an urban middle-class family, witnesses the military coup and produces an intimate account of the events. After briefly situating the personal diary as a cultural practice typical of modernity, I will reflect on the way in which the text illuminates the operations through which the girl inhabits the world, embedded in socio-affective dynamics, interrupted or enhanced by social class. I suggest that Francisca’s Diary sheds light on various aspects of the production and transmission of the memory of political violence, the role of children representations and their relationship with the contexts in which they are produced. Also, I suggest that the Diary portraits a scene in which political violence was already embodied in the everyday life during the UP, no longer as a monopoly of victim and perpetrator agents. Rather I draw attention to the way in which the child negotiates, reproduces, represents and resists violence.Keywords: private diary, political violence, childhood representations

scholarly journals Torture and Disappearance in Chilean Theatre from Dictatorship to Transitional Justice

2015 ◽  
Vol 40 (3) ◽  
pp. 303-313
Author(s):  
MILENA GRASS ◽  
ANDRÉS KALAWSKI ◽  
NANCY NICHOLLS
Keyword(s):  
Political Violence ◽  
Transitional Justice ◽  
Theatrical Production ◽  
Political Function ◽  
The Way

This article presents the way in which both torture and the disappearance of individuals were staged in Chilean theatre from 1985 to 2011. The diachronic approach of this study is set to determine the ways in which the state's official reports on humans rights violations during dictatorship – the Rettig Report (1991) and the Valech Report (2004, 2011) – made an impact on theatrical production in terms of its political function. The study also analyses deployed theatrical devices to address extreme political violence onstage.

scholarly journals El rol de las comunidades campesinas de El Pato (Caquetá) en la implementación del punto dos del Acuerdo Final de Paz de La Habana, en momentos de incertidumbre nacional

2021 ◽  
pp. 301-339
Author(s):  
Juano Zuluaga García
Keyword(s):  
Political Culture ◽  
Social Organization ◽  
Political Violence ◽  
Critical Reflection ◽  
National Government ◽  
Peace Agreement ◽  
Peasant Communities ◽  
The One ◽  
The Way

Resumen: La implementación del Acuerdo Final de Paz ha tenido sus avances y retrocesos. Por un lado, el panorama nacional es alarmante: se evidencian altos picos de violencia política; re- configuración de actores armados; asesinato sistemático de líderes sociales,   reincorporados, etc.; la implementación real de lo acordado es mínima; y hace falta mayor voluntad y efectividad del Estado colombiano y del Gobierno nacional. En contraste, no se pueden desconocer las dinámicas de apropiación y organización social ni el rol transformador de las comunidades desde los territo- rios. El presente trabajo tiene como propósito poner en diálogo una reflexión crítica de la situación nacional del punto dos del Acuerdo con los procesos impulsados por las comunidades de El Pato (Caquetá), y la forma en que estas vienen tejiendo una cultura política participativa y pluralista, aportando así a la implementación del punto dos en, con, desde y para el territorio. The Role of the Peasant Communities of El Pato (Caquetá) in the Implementation of Point Two of the Final Peace Agreement of Havana, in Times of National Uncertainty Abstract: The implementation of the Final Peace Agreement has had progress and setbacks. On the one hand, the national panorama is alarming: high peaks of political violence are evident. Re- configuration of armed actors; systematic murder of social leaders, reincorporated, etc. The actual implementation of the agreement is minimal; and greater will and effectiveness of the Colombian State and the national government are needed. In contrast, the dynamics of appropriation and social organization and the transforming role of the communities from the territories cannot be ignored. The purpose of this paper is to put into dialogue a critical reflection of the national situ- ation of point two of the Agreement with the processes promoted by the communities of El Pato (Caquetá). Also, the way in which they have been weaving a participatory political culture and pluralist. Thus, contributing to the implementation of point two in, with, from and for the territory. Keywords: Final Peace Agreement, democracy, democratization, pluralism, peasant communities, unity, organization, mobilization,  transformation,  social  leaders,  political  culture,  radicalization of democracy.

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