Political violence
Politically motivated violence outside of state control.
Explanations for political violence include...
Institutional, ideational, and individual.
Institutional explanation for political violence
Existing institutions may encourage violence or constrain human action. (ie: Presidentialism through winner-take-all systems that stifle minority voices)
Ideational explanation for political violence
Ideas may justify/promote the use of violence. (ie: Forms of religious fundamentalism; nationalism)
Individual explanation for political violence
Psychological or strategic factors may lead to violence. (ie: Humiliation by one's views being gawked at, violence restores "purpose")
Example of how institutional, ideational, and individual factors play a part in political violence:
Basque independence group (ETA) in Spain. Institutional: long periods of repression under authoritarian rule. Ideational: ETA supporters/members face extermination by Spanish. Individual: youth's conducting of "urban struggle" for Basque independence.
Difference between revolution and terrorism?
Revolution is an uprising of masses who take to the streets and topple the regime. Terrorism is secret and carried out by a small group.
Revolution
Public seizure of the state in order to overturn the existing government/regime.
1. Take control of the state (not just local control, as in ethnic conflict)
2. Not only to remove those in power, but to remove the entire regime.
Example of revolutions without violence:
1. Communist regimes in Eastern Europe collapsing; "transition", not revolution. (except for Romania)
2. South Africa, from apartheid to multiracial democracy. Slowly negotiated, nonviolent, elite-driven.
Relative deprivation model
Revolutions are a function of the gap between ACTUAL conditions and public EXPECTATIONS. (ie: 1979 Iranian Revolution, 2011 Egyptian Revolution)
Example of a revolution that tore down the state only to replace it with an equally corrupt, one-party rule is...
The 1910 Revolution in Mexico.
Terrorism
Use of violence by nonstate actors against CIVILIANS to achieve a political goal.
State-sponsored terrorism
States sponsor nonstate terrorist groups as a means to extend their power by proxy, using terrorism as an instrument of foreign policy. (ie: Kashmir fought over by terrorist groups supported by Pakistan, who wants the province joined to their country)
Guerrilla war
Nonstate actors who largely accept rules of war and target the STATE. Wants to appeal to civilians to appear legitimate to them and international actors.
Nihilism
All institutions are meaningless and the only value you can have is violence.
Causes of political violence
Nihilism, violence as a value, to destroy the institutions and create a "new order." Humiliation/other injustices leave terrorists without a purpose, and they find said purpose in joining a cause for "vengeance.
How does religion become a source of political violence?
1. Hostility to modernity; capitalism, markets, consumer culture has stripped the world of greater meaning.
2. "Cosmic war:" battle between the righteousness of faith and its enemies (modernity). Dehumanizing the enemy is important in justifying violence.
Democracies imposed from the ___ _______ are less likely to produce true democracy in the end.
Top down. (through external intervention)