Religion and Violence: What can Sociology Offer?

Numen ◽  
2005 ◽  
Vol 52 (1) ◽  
pp. 5-28 ◽  
Author(s):  
Steve Bruce
Keyword(s):  
Northern Ireland ◽  
Political Violence ◽  
Political Action ◽  
The Political ◽  
Holy War ◽  
Religious Traditions ◽  
Sociological Approach ◽  
Causal Status ◽  
Key Features ◽  
Large Groups

AbstractThis essay presents a sketch of a sociological approach to the study of possible links between religion and violence. It aims to avoid two unhelpful positions: the structural social science that denies religion causal status and explains everything by circumstance and the popular commentary that gives too much weight to very specific religious ideas. It suggests that instead of trying to explain rare and exotic political action we look for possible links between large abstract features of religious traditions and key features of the culturally-produced social backgrounds which inform how large groups of people orient themselves to other groups, to the issue of individual rights, and to the legitimacy of the state. The example of the involvement of Protestant fundamentalists in the political violence of Northern Ireland is used to illustrate this approach. The refusal of such fundamentalists to engage in holy war is explained by a combination of circumstances and religious ideas.

The Impact of Political Violence on Mild Psychiatric Morbidity in Northern Ireland

1984 ◽  
Vol 145 (6) ◽  
pp. 631-635 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ed Cairns ◽  
Ronnie Wilson
Keyword(s):  
Northern Ireland ◽  
Political Violence ◽  
Community Sample ◽  
General Health Questionnaire ◽  
Psychiatric Morbidity ◽  
The Political ◽  
Drug Prescribing ◽  
Admission Rates ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Do So

SummaryEvidence concerning the impact of the violence in Northern Ireland on psychiatric morbidity is limited to studies examining admission rates and psychotropic drug prescribing rates; their results varied from suggesting no effect to indicating that greater levels of violence are actually equated with higher levels of mental health. The present study is the first to use a community sample, in which respondents (797) from two towns, which have experienced contrasting levels of violence over the last ten years, completed the 30-item version of the General Health Questionnaire (GHQ), and also indicated their perception of the level of violence in their area and how safe they felt this was to live in. Those who lived in the more violent town scored higher on the GHQ, as did women compared to men and those who perceived that their area had experienced more violence. There was also a two-way interaction, such that the small number of people, who perceived much violence in their area and who also lived in the more violent town, scored more highly on the GHQ. It is possible that the majority of people in Northern Ireland deal effectively with stress generated by the political violence, but do so by denying the existence of this violence around them.

Northern Ireland: People of Northern Ireland and the Irish Republic Vote Decisively in Favor of Peace Accord

1998 ◽  
Vol 9 (4) ◽  
pp. 94-98
Keyword(s):  
Northern Ireland ◽  
Political Violence ◽  
Support Group ◽  
The Political ◽  
Peace Accord ◽  
Past Work ◽  
The Past ◽  
Personal Stories ◽  
Lasting Peace ◽  
Brighter Future

Today, I met with ten women and men representing the WAVE Center in Northern Ireland, a support group for those who have been touched by the political violence of the past three decades. Each of these extraordinary individuals, representing both traditions in Northern Ireland, has suffered losing members of their families or being badly wounded themselves. I was inspired by their courage in rejecting violence and working for lasting peace in a land where people are not labeled by religion or national preference; inspired by their vision of a future marked by reconciliation and cooperation. And I will never forget their personal stories of sorrow and suffering, stories which are shared by many people of both communities in Northern Ireland. WAVE proves hatred can be overcome by hope, division can give way to unity, as victims of Northern Ireland's tragic past work together for a brighter future.

scholarly journals Creating Political Oxygen to Break the Cycle of Violence 1981 – 1994: Lessons from the Northern Ireland Peace Process

2015 ◽  
Vol 2 (2) ◽  
pp. 259-275
Keyword(s):  
Northern Ireland ◽  
Political Violence ◽  
Peace Process ◽  
Third Parties ◽  
The Political ◽  
Cycle Of Violence ◽  
Hunger Strike ◽  
Key Concepts ◽  
Political Conditions ◽  
Process Architecture

This paper considers the dynamics of the process used in creating the political conditions to bring about the end of political violence in Northern Ireland in the period from the IRA Hunger Strike in 1981 to the IRA and Loyalist ceasefires in 1994. It explains some of the key concepts that were forged in the intense political back channel pre-negotiations that culminated eventually in opening the door to peace talks. It also shows the crucial role that third parties can play in building the capacity for parties to understand each other and create a peace process architecture.

Arte ConTexto

2020 ◽  
Vol 2 (3) ◽  
pp. 29-52
Author(s):  
Antonio Bellisario ◽  
Leslie Prock
Keyword(s):  
Public Space ◽  
Political Violence ◽  
Pictorial Representation ◽  
The Political ◽  
Left Wing ◽  
Political Dimension ◽  
Political Views ◽  
Socialist Government ◽  
The 1960S ◽  
The Military

The article examines Chilean muralism, looking at its role in articulating political struggles in urban public space through a visual political culture perspective that emphasizes its sociological and ideological context. The analysis characterizes the main themes and functions of left-wing brigade muralism and outlines four subpolitical phases: (i) Chilean mural painting’s beginnings in 1940–1950, especially following the influence of Mexican muralism, (ii) the development of brigade muralism for political persuasion under the context of revolutionary sociopolitical upheaval during the 1960s and in the socialist government of Allende from 1970 to 1973, (iii) the characteristics of muralism during the Pinochet dictatorship in the 1980s as a form of popular protest, and (iv) muralism to express broader social discontent during the return to democracy in the 1990s. How did the progressive popular culture movement represent, through murals, the political hopes during Allende’s government and then the political violence suffered under the military dictatorship? Several online repositories of photographs of left-wing brigade murals provide data for the analysis, which suggests that brigade muralism used murals mostly for political expression and for popular education. Visual art’s inherent political dimension is enmeshed in a field of power constituted by hegemony and confrontation. The muralist brigades executed murals to express their political views and offer them to all spectators because the street wall was within everyone's reach. These murals also suggested ideas that went beyond pictorial representation; thus, muralism was a process of education that invited the audience to decipher its polysemic elements.

State Failure and the Political Violence Phenomenon: A Comparative Analysis of Iraq and Syria Cases

2016 ◽  
Vol 4 (2) ◽  
pp. 170 ◽  
Author(s):  
K. Eylem Özkaya Lassalle
Keyword(s):  
Cold War ◽  
Political Violence ◽  
State Failure ◽  
The Political ◽  
Collective Violence ◽  
Short Run ◽  
Definition Of ◽  
The Cold War

The concept of failed state came to the fore with the end of the Cold War, the collapse of the USSR and the disintegration of Yugoslavia. Political violence is central in these discussions on the definition of the concept or the determination of its dimensions (indicators). Specifically, the level of political violence, the type of political violence and intensity of political violence has been broached in the literature. An effective classification of political violence can lead us to a better understanding of state failure phenomenon. By using Tilly’s classification of collective violence which is based on extent of coordination among violent actors and salience of short-run damage, the role played by political violence in state failure can be understood clearly. In order to do this, two recent cases, Iraq and Syria will be examined.

Between the Social and the Political

2018 ◽  
Vol 5 (2) ◽  
pp. 90-98
Author(s):  
Pia Rowe ◽  
David Marsh
Keyword(s):  
Political Participation ◽  
Political Science ◽  
Political Action ◽  
The Political ◽  
Conventional Theory ◽  
Important Relationship ◽  
The Social ◽  
Action Language

While Wood and Flinders’ work to broaden the scope of what counts as “politics” in political science is a needed adjustment to conventional theory, it skirts an important relationship between society, the protopolitical sphere, and arena politics. We contend, in particular, that the language of everyday people articulates tensions in society, that such tensions are particularly observable online, and that this language can constitute the beginning of political action. Language can be protopolitical and should, therefore, be included in the authors’ revised theory of what counts as political participation.

The Geography of War and Peace

2004 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Northern Ireland ◽  
Final Section ◽  
The Political ◽  
Complex World ◽  
War And Peace ◽  
Peace Movements ◽  
Resource Conflicts ◽  
Political Processes ◽  
Post War ◽  
Spatial Rhetoric

Our world of increasing and varied conflicts is confusing and threatening to citizens of all countries, as they try to understand its causes and consequences. However, how and why war occurs, and peace is sustained, cannot be understood without realizing that those who make war and peace must negotiate a complex world political map of sovereign spaces, borders, networks of communication, access to nested geographic scales, and patterns of resource distribution. This book takes advantage of a diversity of geographic perspectives as it analyzes the political processes of war and their spatial expression. Contributors to the volume examine particular manifestations of war in light of nationalism, religion, gender identities, state ideology, border formation, genocide, spatial rhetoric, terrorism, and a variety of resource conflicts. The final section on the geography of peace covers peace movements, diplomacy, the expansion of NATO, and the geography of post-war reconstruction. Case studies of numerous conflicts include Israel and Palestine, Afghanistan, Northern Ireland, Bosnia-Herzogovina, West Africa, and the attacks of September 11, 2001.

Partisanship and Autocratization: Polarization, Power Asymmetry, and Partisan Social Identities in Turkey

2020 ◽  
Vol 54 (2) ◽  
pp. 245-279 ◽  
Author(s):  
Melis G. Laebens ◽  
Aykut Öztürk
Keyword(s):  
Survey Data ◽  
Political Action ◽  
Political Attitudes ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Social Identities ◽  
The Political ◽  
Power Asymmetry ◽  
Partisan Identity ◽  
Political Divide ◽  
Ruling Party

Although theories of partisanship were developed for the democratic context, partisanship can be important in electoral autocracies as well. We use survey data to analyze partisanship in an electoral autocracy, Turkey, and find that partisanship is pervasive, strong, and consequential. Using the Partisan Identity Scale to measure partisanship, we show that, like in democracies, partisanship strength is associated with political attitudes and action. Unlike in democracies, however, the ruling party’s superior ability to mobilize supporters through clientelistic linkages makes the association between partisanship and political action weaker for ruling party partisans. We find that partisan identities are tightly connected to the perception that other parties may threaten one’s well-being, and that such fears are widespread on both sides of the political divide. We interpret our findings in light of the autocratization process Turkey went through. Our contribution highlights the potential of integrating regime dynamics in studies of partisanship.

Political corruption in Zimbabwe: News media, audiences and deliberative democracy

2021 ◽  
pp. 174165902110224
Author(s):  
Mthokozisi Phathisani Ndhlovu ◽  
Phillip Santos
Keyword(s):  
Deliberative Democracy ◽  
News Media ◽  
Political Action ◽  
Qualitative Content Analysis ◽  
Political Corruption ◽  
Political Elite ◽  
The Political ◽  
Media Audiences ◽  
Mainstream Media ◽  
Ruling Party

Even though corruption by politicians and in politics is widespread worldwide, it is more pronounced in developing countries, such as Zimbabwe, where members of the political elite overtly abuse power for personal accumulation of wealth. Ideally, the news media, as watchdogs, are expected to investigate and report such abuses of power. However, previous studies in Zimbabwe highlight the news media’s polarised and normative inefficacies. Informed by the theoretical notion of deliberative democracy developed via Habermas and Dahlgren’s work and Hall’s Encoding, Decoding Model, this article uses qualitative content analysis to examine how online readers of Zimbabwe’s two leading daily publications, The Herald and NewsDay, interpreted and evaluated allegations of corruption leveled against ministers and deputy ministers during the height of factionalism in the ruling party (ZANU PF). The article argues that interaction between mainstream media and their audiences online shows the latter’s resourcefulness and, at least, discursive agency in their engagement with narratives about political corruption, itself an imperative premise for future political action.

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