Defensive Violence Research Articles

Killing in Self-Defence and the Case for Biocentric Individualism

The primary method for defending biocentric individualism – a prominent theory of the moral value of organisms – is to appeal to the fact that there are certain things that are good for and bad for living creatures, even if they are not sentient. This defence is typically and frequently met with the objection that we can determine what is good for some living creature without thereby having any moral reason or obligation to promote or avoid undermining it. In this paper I show how a theory of the morality of defensive violence pre-empts this objection.

Evicting Robert E. Lee and Stonewall Jackson from the Hall of Fame for Great Americans

Evicting Robert E. Lee and Stonewall Jackson from the Hall of Fame for Great Americans examines the removals of portrait busts of confederate generals Robert E. Lee and Thomas ‘Stonewall’ Jackson from the Hall of Fame for Great Americans on the campus of the City University of New York’s Bronx Community College in Bronx, NY after violence in defense of confederate monuments in Charlottesville, Virginia. The article explores these iconoclastic attacks as reflecting battles between factions over control of public squares in the U.S. in 2017 and in context of only one bust of a ‘Great American’ added to the hall in many decades.

XII—What Follows from Defensive Non-Liability?

Theories of self-defence tend to invest heavily in ‘liability justifications’: if the Attacker is liable to have defensive violence deployed against him by the Defender, then he will not be wronged by such violence, and self-defence becomes, as a result, morally unproblematic. This paper contends that liability justifications are overrated. The deeper contribution to an explanation of why defensive permissions exist is made by the Defender’s non-liability. Drawing on both canonical cases of self-defence, featuring Culpable Attackers, and more penumbral cases of self-defence, involving Non-Responsible Threats, a case is assembled for the ‘Non-Liability First Account’ of self-defence.

Viv Dechoukaj, Long Live Uprooting! Aristide’s Politico-theology of Defensive Violence in the Struggle for Democracy in Haiti

ABSTRACTThe essay has a twofold objectives. First, it analyzes the complex relationships of popular violence, gansterization, and chimerization associated with Jean-Bertrand Aristide’s political leadership and actions during his second presidential administration. Secondly, it examines Aristide’s first politico-theological treatise, 100 Vese Dechoukaj Va T’en Satan! to study whether he has formulated or articulated a theology of violence and aggression that will later shape his political leadership during his second presidential administration. It is evident in this early text, Aristide has perfected a rhetoric of bellicosity, framed within a particular theo-political hermeneutics and discourse, to damn the Duvalierists and Macoutes, and uproot the oppressors and distractors of the Haitian people. In other words, this essay argues that the popular violence and gangsterism associated with Aristide’s second-term presidency and his Fanmi Lavalas supporters have deep roots in Aristide’s revolutionary theology of contextualization and biblical hermeneutical re-appropriation to the Haitian experience of his time.

Forfeiture Theory and Symmetrical Attackers

This article defends the following thesis: The Problem of Symmetrical Attackers does not falsify forfeiture theory. The theory asserts that except in the case where violence is necessary to avoid a catastrophe, only those who forfeit their rights are liable for defensive violence. The problem arises from the following sort of case, the Symmetrical Attacker Case, in which Al and Bob are doppelgangers. They both mistakenly but justifiably think that the other is about to attack them. They both respond with violence that is necessary and that they think is necessary to prevent the attack. The problem is that one person forfeits his right if and only if the second does not and that it appears to be impossible for both or neither to forfeit. The article argues that the forfeiture theory is not falsified by this problem because the problem is equally damaging to every plausible theory of permissible defensive violence.

Turkish-Dutch youths’ attitude toward violence for defending the in-group: What role does perceived parenting play?

This study examines a factor that has thus far received little attention in research on attitudes toward violent in-group defense, namely, the role of perceived parental ethnic socialization. We hypothesized that perceived parental ethnic socialization (i.e., cultural socialization, egalitarianism, bias/mistrust) affects attitudes toward violence in defense of the in-group by others as well as willingness to use such violence oneself via its influence on collective identity factors (in-group connectedness, collective deprivation, religious superiority, connectedness with mainstream society). We analyzed a sample of children of Turkish Muslim migrants in the Netherlands. The data came from a survey conducted among pupils at 7 secondary schools (age 14–18, N = 133). Results show that perceived parental ethnic socialization has an indirect effect on attitudes toward and willingness to use a violent in-group defense that runs via the collective identity factors. Perceived parental socialization that emphasizes equality is related to less willingness to use violent in-group defense. Perceived parental messages of mistrust of the other and preparation for bias were associated with a more positive attitude toward violent in-group defense by others and toward willingness to use such violence. Perceived cultural socialization correlates positively with attitude toward violent in-group defense by others and willingness to use violent in-group defense. The total size of the indirect effects of perceived parental ethnic socialization was modest. We did not find a direct effect of perceived parental socialization. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2016 APA, all rights reserved)

Legitimating Torture?

Steinhoff (On the ethics of torture. SUNY Press, Albany, 2013) defends the moral and legal permissibility of torture in a limited range of circumstances. This article criticizes Steinhoff’s arguments. The analogy between ordinary defensive violence and defensive torture which Steinhoff argues for is partly spoiled by the presence, within defensive torture, of opportunistic harm, in addition to eliminative harm. Steinhoff’s arguments that the mere legalization of defensive torture would not metastasize into a more full-fledged institutionalization of torture are also found wanting. As a minimal form of institutionalization, the mere legalization of torture would already be at risk of further entrenchment and growth.

Collective identity factors and the attitude toward violence in defense of ethnicity or religion among Muslim youth of Turkish and Moroccan Descent

Collective deprivation, connectedness to mainstream society (friendship and psychological closeness to majority individuals) and in-group identity factors (i.e. strength of in-group identity, and perceived in-group superiority) were investigated among Muslim Dutch youth of Turkish and Moroccan descent, in relation to their attitudes toward violence in defense of religion or ethnicity, and the willingness to use such violence. Data come from a sample of students (N=398, age 14–18 years). Results show that perceptions of in-group superiority were predicted by higher connectedness to the in-group and lower connectedness to Dutch society in both ethnic groups and by collective relative deprivation among Moroccan-Dutch participants only. In both groups, attitudes toward violent in-group defense and violence willingness were predicted by perceptions of in-group superiority. Collective relative deprivation directly predicted more positive attitudes to violent in-group defense among Turkish-Dutch youth, as well as indirectly (via in-group superiority) among Moroccan-Dutch. Connectedness to the in-group directly predicted the willingness to use a violent in-group defense among the Turkish-Dutch participants and again indirectly (via in-group superiority) among Moroccan-Dutch participants. The results underline the relevance of collective identification processes to the attitudes of violent in-group defense among young Muslims of the second generation in a rather tensed socio-political climate. The study outcomes emphasize the importance of examining the dynamics between different Muslim groups, as their unique acculturation patterns yield particular pathways to the attitudes toward violent in-group defense and the willingness hereof.

Contemporary military contracting and the future: Teeth, tails, and concerns

Since the start of the twenty-first century, military contractors such as Blackwater (now named Academi), Kellogg, Brown & Root, and SNC Lavalin have become household names in many countries. The reasons for their prominence vary from case to case. One is notoriety. Particular firms hold contracts valued in the millions if not billions of dollars, and the conduct of some firms has not been beyond reproach in terms of military effectiveness or their observance of human rights. A second reason is reliance. Contractors are needed to keep state military personnel fed and supplied, to maintain their machines, and in some cases even to protect them. Developed world states especially require them for warring, training, and simply operating given the limited numbers of available national military personnel, the increasing sophistication of military technologies, and the political ramifications of applying state forces overseas. In many states, contractors have therefore become part of the total national force. Yet another reason pertains to dedication and sacrifice. Many firms suffered significant levels of casualties during the longterm interventions in Iraq and Afghanistan. Thousands of contracted personnel have provided continuity over the long haul in often austere and intemperate conditions. All of this points to the considerable depth and scope of contractor involvement, arguably unprecedented in recent decades if not centuries. It also stands at odds with traditional conceptions of expensive state security sectors and their capabilities and responsibilities to manage and apply violence.Without a doubt, then, contractors have played a significant, augmentative, and sometimes controversial role in the overseas endeavours of many countries. With the first decade of this century now over and the interventions it hosted gradually fading into history, it is appropriate to consider, both by casting back and by looking forward, the evolving relationships between states and contractors. While there have been common pressures applied against contractor-employing states (especially related to the lure of neoliberal policies and the distinction between offensive and defensive violence), the national management of, and response to, those pressures have differed. Therefore, the following articles examine evolving national considerations and rationales for military contracting (including armed and unarmed contractors) based on recent experiences of selected Western states: the United Kingdom, the United States, Canada, and Sweden. Among the national cases, the United Kingdom and the United States are presented first since these countries' interactions with the private sector are arguably the most substantial in a global sense. They are also the states on which other states often model their interactions with contractors. In contrast, Canada and Sweden are examined less frequently. They too, however, present their own unique dynamics. Canada often attempts to punch above its weight on the international stage despite (or because of) its military's relatively small size. Swedish defence policy is shifting its emphasis from territorial defence and national service to expeditionary operations with professional volunteer forces. To facilitate these states' efforts, policymakers have introduced contractors in a variety of ways.The reader will note that not only does this introduction employ the fairly malleable word contractor, but that the articles that follow use a number of different terms with several meanings. This catholic approach highlights debates within the field. But, keeping International Journal's audience in mind, the terminology also reflects the varying emphasis in the broad industry on teeth aspects-those more closely associated with the use of force-and tail aspects-those more closely associated with logistics, maintenance, and support. The variance also underscores the definitions laid out in national and international regulations and guidelines. …

Weapons in Conflicts: Cases of Mazowe and Shamva, Zimbabwe

The Mazowe and Shamva districts in Zimbabwe have been embroiled in political conflicts that have left people injured, dead, traumatized, and property destroyed. The conflicts have often involved weapons of various types and with differing capabilities. They were seen to be perpetuated by various interested groups: former liberation war fighters, youth, traditional leaders, and the security sector. This study looked at the various types of weapons that were used in various conflicts, their capacities, and parties involved. Through a mixed approach design, an exploratory research was conducted in the two districts that focused on traditional taboos as a conflict resolution mechanism. One hundred and thirty-five participants were selected through snowball and emergent sampling methods to satisfy formal interviews and focus group discussions. These methods were complemented by archival material. The conclusion of the study noted that conflicts escalate intensely in election eras—to some extent, confirming three hypotheses that elections perpetuate social and political hostilities, local political parties believe in violence as a best conflict resolution mechanism, and that weapon carrying was meant to perpetuate violence in defense of a political party ideology.

Gay gang- and crime-involved men's experiences with homophobic bullying and harassment in schools

Homophobic language and harassment in American schools is pervasive. Although several studies suggest sexual minority youth engage in defensive violence to respond to homophobic bullying in schools, these encounters remain largely unexplored. Instead, extant literature focuses on these youths' likelihood of being bullied and the negative school or mental health outcomes associated with homophobic victimization. In this paper, I utilize in-depth interviews with 53 gay gang- and crime-involved men to present a descriptive portrait of their experiences with homophobic bullying and harassment in schools, and the ways they manage and respond to these events. This study moves beyond prior studies by detailing how, under what circumstances, and why gay youth may choose to ‘fight back’ against homophobic bullying. Specifically, fights were enacted to address disrespect and to build a reputation as someone who was not to be bullied; the goal of which was to curtail future harassment.

Recognition and Violence: The Challenge of Respecting One's Victim

Theories of recognition have largely neglected the question of whether “struggles for recognition” might permissibly use violent means. In this article I explore the question of whether and how it is possible to show proper respect for the victim of one’s violence. Focusing on self-defense as the paradigmatic case of justified violence, two questions arise: (1) What renders an agent liable to violent action? (2) If she is liable, what is the appropriate, i.e., proportionate, degree of defensive violence that still expresses respect for her? I claim that – in order to answer these questions – three dimensions of what is defended must be distinguished: goods, rights and one’s moral status. Clarifying their relationship allows me to argue that persons become liable to defensive violence if they directly pose (or intentionally and significantly contribute to) an unjustified threat to important goods protected by the rights of another person, even if they, as “attackers “or “threats “are innocent, i.e., do not display disrespect. I argue that those accounts which claim a moral symmetry between innocent attackers or threats on the one hand and innocent bystanders on the other hand, misunderstand the role of (dis) respect in a theory of justified violence. Moreover, when it comes to considerations of proportionality the dimension of (dis) respect has to be taken much more seriously than is usually the case. Here, instead of focusing mainly on the importance of goods we should pay more attention to (especially political) relationships of intersubjective (dis) respect.

Body Fascism in Britain: Building the Blackshirt in the Inter-War Period

AbstractIn recent years scholars have devoted a great deal of attention and theorisation to the body in history, looking both at bodies as metaphors and as sites of intervention. These studies have tended to focus on the analysis of bodies in a national context, acting for and acted upon by the state, and similarly the ever-expanding study of masculinity continues to try to define hegemonic masculinities. But what if we direct our gaze to marginal bodies, in this case Blackshirt bodies who act against the state, and a political movement that commits assault on the body politic? This article examines the centrality of the body and distinctive gender codes in the self-representation, the performance and practice, and the culture of Britain's failed fascist movement during the 1930s. The term ‘body fascism’ has taken on different and much diluted meaning in the present day, but in the British Union of Fascists’ construction of the Blackshirted body, in the movement's emphasis on the embodiment of their political religion through sport, physical fitness and public display of offensive and defensive violence, and in their distinctive and racialised bodily aesthetic illustrated in their visual and graphic art production we come to understand Britain's fascist movement as a product of modernity and as one potent expression of the convergence between populist politics and body fixation.

Who Would Marry a Strong Woman? A Short Story by Bhagvaticharan Varma

AbstractIn Varma's story ‘Pata-banethi’, a robust young man refuses to marry a female student when he finds out that she is trained in defensive violence, as a virangana. At first sight, the story appears to draw attention to the difficulties women trained like men in fighting will have in getting married and finding a place in society. An analysis of characterisation, however, suggests that Varma's story goes against such a stereotypic male evaluation of strong women, and actually underlines the social and political value of violence controlled by mental strength, a value that can be recognised by both men and women.

The Female Indian Killer Memorialized: Hannah Duston and the Nineteenth–Century Feminization of American Violence

Hannah Duston was a Massachusetts woman taken captive by a group of Native Americans in 1697. She later killed and scalped ten members of an Indian family with whom she had been placed. While Duston was well–known in 1697, there is little mention of her in published sources from 1703 to 1815. Between the 1820s and 1880s, however, versions of her story proliferated in print, and three major monuments were erected in her honor. This article explores the reasons for nineteenth–century Americans’ fascination with Duston. It argues that their gendered notion that men were more violent than women, in conjunction with their feminized representations of the nation, worked to create a model of American identity in which violence committed by the United States was, by definition, feminine, and therefore innocent, defensive violence. The link between female virtue and the nation’s virtue, then, facilitated the development of a gendered ideology of American innocence.

Evolving Christian Attitudes Towards Personal and National Self-Defense

This article analyzes the changes in orthodox Christian attitudes towards defensive violence. While the Article begins in the 19th century and ends in the 21st, most of the Article is about the 20th century. The Article focuses on American Catholicism and on the Vatican, although there is some discussion of American Protestantism. In the nineteenth and early in the twentieth centuries, the traditional Christian concepts of Just War and of the individual's duty to use force to defend himself and his family remained uncontroversial, as they had been for centuries. Disillusionment over World War I turned many Catholics and Protestants towards pacifism. Without necessarily adopting pacifism as a theory, they adopted pacifism as a practice. World War II and the early Cold War ended the pacifist interlude for all but a few radical pacifists. Beginning in the 1960s, much of the American Catholic leadership, like the leadership of mainline Protestant churches, turned sharply Left. Although churches did not repudiate their teachings on Just War, many Catholic and mainline Protestant leaders seemed unable to find any circumstances under which American or Western force actually was legitimate. Pacifism and anti-Americanism marched hand in hand. Today, pacifism now has greater respectability within orthodox Christianity than any time in the past 1700 years. Among the influential thinkers profiled in this Article are all Popes from World War II to the present, Dorothy Day and her Catholic Worker Movement, and the Berrigan Brothers. The Article suggests that some recent trends in pacifist or quasi-pacifist approaches have been unduly influenced by hostility to the United States, and by the use of narrowly-focused emotion rather than the rigorous analysis that has characterized Catholic philosophy. Language: en

Personality Disorders and Violence Potential

Violence associated with personality disorders is usually best viewed separately from psychiatric diagnosis, as a syndrome of violence rather than a syndrome of diagnosis. The authors describe eight categories of violence associated with personality disorders that may help clinicians choose treatment or management techniques: purposeful, instrumental violence; purposeful, non-instrumental violence; purposeful, targeted, defensive violence; targeted, impulsive violence; nontargeted, impulsive violence incidental to emotional escape; random but purposeful violence; violence related to perceived or feared loss or abandonment; and violence related to chronic paranoia or related misconceptions. The categories are not completely mutually exclusive, nor do they represent a "decision tree." We also point out three important principles about the relationship between personality disorders and violence: 1) Personality disorders are rarely ego dystonic; 2) Most patients and violent situations that come to clinical attention involve comorbid conditions. 3) Violence and violence risk are often associated with intoxication.

An Exploratory Study of Women Arrested for Intimate Partner Violence

With the advent of mandatory and pro-arrest laws for incidents of intimate partner violence, there has been an increase in the number of women arrested for domestic violence. Several explanations are posed in the literature that attempt to explain such a rise, including the hypothesis that women are being arrested not for offensive violence but rather for defensive violence. Few studies, however, have used empirical data to support such arguments. This exploratory study examines the characteristics of women arrested for intimate personal violence. Particular attention is paid to women arrested with their partner (i.e., dual arrestees) and the contextual characteristics of dual arrestee incidents. Important differences are uncovered in the context and consequences of arrest for dual arrestees (n = 21) compared to women arrested alone as the offender (n = 49). Implications of these findings and further research directions are discussed.

Recognition and Violence: The Challenge of Respecting One's Victim

Theories of recognition have largely neglected the question of whether “struggles for recognition” might permissibly use violent means. In this article I explore the question of whether and how it is possible to show proper respect for the victim of one’s violence. Focusing on self-defense as the paradigmatic case of justified violence, two questions arise: (1) What renders an agent liable to violent action? (2) If she is liable, what is the appropriate, i.e., proportionate, degree of defensive violence that still expresses respect for her? I claim that – in order to answer these questions – three dimensions of what is defended must be distinguished: goods, rights and one’s moral status. Clarifying their relationship allows me to argue that persons become liable to defensive violence if they directly pose (or intentionally and significantly contribute to) an unjustified threat to important goods protected by the rights of another person, even if they, as “attackers “or “threats “are innocent, i.e., do not display disrespect. I argue that those accounts which claim a moral symmetry between innocent attackers or threats on the one hand and innocent bystanders on the other hand, misunderstand the role of (dis) respect in a theory of justified violence. Moreover, when it comes to considerations of proportionality the dimension of (dis) respect has to be taken much more seriously than is usually the case. Here, instead of focusing mainly on the importance of goods we should pay more attention to (especially political) relationships of intersubjective (dis) respect.

Ben Tillman and the Reconstruction of White Supremacy

Through the life of Benjamin Ryan Tillman (1847-1918), South Carolina's self-styled agrarian rebel, this book traces the history of white male supremacy and its discontents from the era of plantation slavery to the age of Jim Crow. As an anti-Reconstruction guerrilla, Democratic activist, South Carolina governor, and U.S. senator, Tillman offered a vision of reform that was proudly white supremacist. In the name of white male militance, productivity, and solidarity, he justified lynching and disfranchised most of his state's black voters. His arguments and accomplishments rested on the premise that only productive and virtuous white men should govern and that federal power could never be trusted. Over the course of his career, Tillman faced down opponents ranging from agrarian radicals to aristocratic conservatives, from woman suffragists to black Republicans. His vision and his voice shaped the understandings of millions and helped create the violent, repressive world of the Jim Crow South. Friend and foe alike--and generations of historians--interpreted Tillman's physical and rhetorical violence in defense of white supremacy as a matter of racial and gender instinct. This book instead reveals that Tillman's white supremacy was a political program and social argument whose legacies continue to shape American life. |Through the life of Benjamin R.Tillman (1847-1918), South Carolina's notorious agrarian rebel, this book traces white male supremacy from plantation slavery to the age of Jim Crow. As an anti-Reconstruction guerrilla, governor, and U.S. senator, he offered a vision of reform that was proudly white supremacist. This book argues that Tillman's white supremacy was a political program and social argument whose legacies continue to shape American life.