Use Of Political Violence Research Articles

Critical terrorism studies: an activist scholar perspective

There is a pressing need for critical terrorism studies. Mainstream terrorism studies obscures the class function of terrorism, values the worthy victims of official enemies over the unworthy victims of official allies, keeps Northern state terrorism off the agenda and deploys the concept of terrorism in a way that deleitimises opposition to the power of the global North while legitimising the global North’s own political violence. Critical terrorism studies should break with mainstream terrorism studies on all of these fronts. It should address how terrorism has evolved as an instrument of the power and privilege of the global North. It should treat the victims of terrorism equally on the basis of their common humanity, which means the terrorism of the global North or global South should not be treated as the only terrorism that matters. And it should use the label terrorism to hold up a mirror to those who accuse others of terrorist acts but who engage in, sponsor or are complicit in such acts themselves. Finally, it should situate its challenge to terrorism within a challenge to the use of political violence in general.

Revisionist Marxist Theory in Ireland

This article examines the anti-nationalist Marxist school of thought that is associated with, amongst others, Paul Bew and Henry Patterson. It looks at their attempt to produce a Marxist theoretical justification for an end to the use of political violence by Irish republicans and for a justification of partition and Ulster unionism. It argues that this was an identifiable revisionist school with a political agenda. It further argues that the maintenance of the union with Britain is both explicitly and implicitly at the centre of these scholars’ agenda. It is the ideology of unionism expressed in leftist vocabulary. The focus of this article is to evaluate: the two contrasting approaches of ‘anti-imperialism’ and ‘anti-nationalist revisionism’; in particular it explores differences between these two approaches over such fundamental issues as: 1) the nature and importance of imperialism in Ireland past and present; 2) the role of the British state in Northern Ireland; 3) the nature of the conflict in the North; 4) how Marxists should interpret Ulster unionism in their efforts to promote socialism in Ireland. Recent political developments in Northern Ireland—the setting up of a power-sharing executive involving Sinn Fein and the hard-line unionist DUP—puts this article into context. Part One examines the orthodox Marxist tradition, theory and heritage. This ‘anti-imperialist’ analysis of Ireland can be said to derive from the works of Marx, Engels, Lenin, Trotsky and the contribution of James Connolly to Marxist political thought. Part Two looks at ‘anti-nationalist revisionism’. The term refers to those Marxists writing on Ireland who have questioned, and rejected many of the basic tenets of the traditional ‘anti-imperialist’ approach. It identifies this school with Paul Bew, Henry Patterson and Ellen Hazelkorn, and their collective projects. I would acknowledge the contribution of Peter Gibbon, Austen Morgan and indeed, the British and Irish Communist Organisation (BICO) to Revisionist Marxism, however; I focus on the writers above because of their association with a definable political project that I will be exploring in a forthcoming article. Part Three surveys the intellectual debate relating to this form of revisionism—existing critiques or commentaries, and book reviews, and considers interviews with Henry Patterson and two of his antagonists, Sam Porter and Denis O'Hearn.

Revisionism: The Provisional Republican Movement

This article explores the developments within the Provisional Republican Movement (IRA and Sinn Fein), its politicization in the 1980s, and the Sinn Fein strategy of recent years. It discusses the Provisionals’ ending of the use of political violence and the movement’s drift or determined policy towards entering the political mainstream, the acceptance of democratic norms. The sustained focus of my article is consideration of the revision of core Provisional principles. It analyses the reasons for this revisionism and it considers the reaction to and consequences of this revisionism.

The mythic meanings of the Second Amendment: taming political violence in a constitutional republic

The Second Amendment, which concerns the right of the people to keep and bear arms, has been the subject of great debate for decades. Does it protect an individual's right to arms or only the right of the states to maintain militias? In this work David Williams offers a reading of the Second Amendment: that it guarantees to individuals a right to arms only insofar as they are part of a united and consensual people, so that their uprising can be a unified revolution rather than a civil war. Williams argues that the Second Amendment has been based on myths about America: the Framers' belief in American unity and modern interpreters' belief in American distrust and disunity. Neither of these myths, however, will adequately curb political violence. Williams suggests that the amendment should serve not as a rule of law but as a cultural ideal that promotes American unity on the use of political violence and celebrates their diversity in other areas of life.

Darker than midnight: Fear, vulnerability, and terror making in urban Burma (Myanmar)

The Burmese military State constructs fear and vulnerability among its citizenry through the strategic use of political violence. Fear is inherently temporal and, unlike despair, requires that one have the ability to envisage alternatives to a future of complete domination. Burmese people strive not to express fear, and the anthropologist's articulation of fear contrasts with the silence that fear engenders among them. In this article I reflect on strategies for the ethical collection of experiences of fear in situations where suppressing or denying fear is the most common survival strategy. [Burma, Myanmar, violence, fear, state construction of affect, vulnerability, time]

Just War, Jihad, and Terrorism: A Comparison of Western and Islamic Norms for the Use of Political Violence

Just War, Jihad, and Terrorism: A Comparison of Western and Islamic Norms for the Use of Political Violence

THE SPREAD OF POLITICAL VIOLENCE IN CONGO-BRAZZAVILLE

The Republic of Congo has witnessed two recent waves of major violence, in 1993–4 and in 1997. Party militias fought one another in the streets of Brazzaville, causing massive loss of life and widespread damage. This article briefly recounts the history of this violence and analyses the activities and social origins of the militiamen. The process of democratic transition of the early 1990s had a marked effect in disseminating the use of political violence throughout a large section of society, notably among young people frustrated in their expectations of social and economic advancement.

Geopolitical Themes in Contemporary Asian Revolutions

MW ITH the increasing number of national revolutions and the widespread use of political violence, a number of questions are raised that the social scientist must not only voice but also seek to answer. To date most studies of national revolutions and political violence have chronicled their evolution, social components, and results. Questions about causes have stressed such themes as frustrated rising expectations or the nature of individual leaders. Such approaches are notoriously ex post facto and have proved highly limited in predicting either the outbreak of a national revolution or its progress (success or failure) once it is initiated. Although political geography cannot claim to answer the question of why revolutions take place, it can provide a basis for predicting where in a country political violence of a revolutionary nature will break out. By identifying a number of the critical patterns and sequences, the political geographer can determine not only where a revolution is most likely to occur but also where it is most likely to spread and why. From numerous case studies and from the vast amount of information available on

A Test of a Partial Theory of Potential for Political Violence

Potential for political violence is defined by a summated scale built from two cumulative scales measuring approval of and readiness to engage in behaviors which constitute progressively greater challenge to a political regime. A prevalent explanation of potential for political violence proposes that the major direct antecedent is relative deprivation. The partial theory proposed here does not assign a central role to relative deprivation; rather, diffuse support for the political authority structure, and belief that political violence has led to goal attainment in the past, are proposed as major direct antecedents. Relative deprivation is denned by position on the Cantril Self-Anchoring scale with respect to three welfare values. The measure of diffuse affect for the political authority structure is a weighted summation of items measuring the degree to which political authorities are believed to wield power honestly, benevolently, and justly. Belief that political violence has led to goal attainment is denned as a summation of items measuring the degree to which the use of political violence by dissident groups is thought to have been helpful. The data base is a sample of a population in which instances of political violence have been frequent in the past. A linear additive model of Potential for Political Violence, with Trust in Political Authorities and Efficacy of Past Violence as describing variables, shows an accuracy of prediction which is satisfactory and superior to that yielded by a multiplicative model.

Press-party parallelism:The Star'seditorial position on the 1922 Miner's Strike

SUMMARY Against the background of a theory about press-party parallelism the author of this article argues that the Johannesburg based newspaper, THE STAR, supported the use of political violence when this newspaper supported the government of the day. As an example he illustrates how THE STAR vigorously defended the strong steps taken by the Smuts Government against revolutionaries in 1922. This was at a time when THE STAR was associated with colonial control and mining interests. During the mine worker strikes in 1913, 1914 and 1922 THE STAR supported the government's use of military measures to suppress revolt, and identified ‘communists’ and ‘agitators’ as the primary force behind the strikes. Today the same newspaper opposes the government's arguments for strong measures against revolutionaries. According to the author the implications of his historical evidence are disquieting: they suggest that on occasion newspapers are so tightly linked to a political party and other interests that truth, balance...

Communism and Revolution: The Strategic Use of Political Violence

Communism and Revolution: The Strategic Use of Political Violence