Lecture 2 - Political Violence and State Terrorism Flashcards
What are repertoires of contention?
The repertoire of contention is not only what people do when they make a claim, it is what they know how to do, and what society has come to expect from them to choose from within a culturally sanctioned and empirically limited set of options (Tilly, 1977, p. 51).
According to Sidney Tarrow, there are a number of ‘Techniques of Contention’ that social movements will turn to again and again.
Techniques of contention
- French Revolution
o Petitions
o Peaceful Marches
o Barricades
o Public Executions
- Hamas
o Peaceful Marches
o International Lobbying
o Rocket Attacks
o Suicide Bombing
What do social movements believe?
What do social movements believe?
- Reform
o Those who wish to achieve political and social changes by improving the status quo, but without necessarily overthrowing the existing order.
- Revolution
o An act of resistance that results in the overthrowing of the status quo
Ideological labels can overlook the fact that many social movements will adopt both reformative and revolutionary tactics or strategies.
Charles Tilly, the author of one of this week’s readings, speaks about collective action through cycles of protest, and draws from Tarrow’s ‘Repertoire of Contention’ to describe what people in social movements do when they make a claim
What are Claim-makers and Object of claim?
Claim makers: In this case, the organised, un-insitutionalised collectivity who mobilises for change.
Object of Claim: Those with decision-making powers over the claim. Authorities or objects of claims do not always have to be government. They could be, for example, religious leaders.
What are the different types of contentions?
- Containted
a. Builds on routines that people understand and that elites will accept/facilitate.
i. E.g. Occupy Wall Street (OWS) was a protest movement against economic inequality and the corruption of corporate law that occurred from September 17 to November 15, 2011, centered in New York City. The demonstration marked the beginning of a new focus on wealth disparity in American politics1. - Disruptive
a. Break with routine, startle bystanders, and leave elites disoriented.Unstable and easily turns into violence or becomes ‘contained.’
i. E.g., Just Stop Oil is a protest movement in London that focuses on climate change activism. The group has been known for their high-profile protests, including scaling the Dartford Crossing bridge and causing damage to a Vincent Van Gogh painting’s frame at London’s Courtauld Gallery. - Violent
a. Most dramatic and easiest to initiate.Under normal circumstances, limited to small groups with few resources who are willing risk repression.
i. E.g, The January 6 Insurrection, which took place in Washington D.C. in 2021, was an event where a pro-Trump mob stormed the U.S. Capitol in an attempt to stop the certification of the 2020 election results. The riot resulted in five deaths and assaults on 140 police officers.
What is Political Violence?
Political violence is “the exercise of physical force with the intention to harm the welfare and physical integrity of the victim motivated by political goals.” (Neumayer 2004, 260)
What is state terrorism?
More than 109 definitions, but the main overlaps:
1. There is an act of violence, or the threat of violence (Ganor, 2002).
2. The act, either real or threatened, is concerned with remedying miscarriages of justice or attaining societal transformation, and are therefore, political.
3. Centner (2003) argues that it is the strategic focus, or target, of the group (non-combatants) which earns it the definition of terrorism.
However, the target of a terrorist attack is not exclusively those who are harmed.
4. Terrorism reflects an intention to exploit audience reactions to a level of extreme anxiety towards, seemingly, arbitrary violence. Ultimately, it is a form of manipulation (Schmid, 2012, p. 94).
5. Terrorism, by most definitions, is a form of political violence practiced by non-state actors.
Why cant states be terrorists and how can you counter this argument?
States, by definition, cannot engage in terrorism because they have a legitimate right to use violence. (Monopoly on the use of force)
However this can be dismissed using the following points:
1. Terrorism is a strategy of violence to achieve political aims. To suggest that when a state engages in the very same strategies as non-state actors it ceases to be terrorism, we abandon our scholarly research principles. In other words, we are observing behaviour.
2. the suggestion that states have a legitimate right to use violence and non-state actors do not is also relative. State-sponsored genocide, for instance, is not seen as legitimate. Similarly, Western states and international organisations have a long history of recognising (and even supporting) violent non-state-groups in particular contexts (e.g., the resistance to the Nazi occupation).
What is a concrete definition of state terrorism?
What distinguishes state-terrorism from other forms of state repression is its instrumentality.
It involves the illegal targeting of individuals that the state has normally an obligation to protect in order to instill fear in a target audience beyond the direct victims.
What is State-sponsored terrorism and the ways of sponsoring?
Clandestine state terrorism consists of direct participation by state agents in acts of terrorism.
State-sponsored terrorism, however, consists of state or private groups being employed to undertake terrorist actions on behalf of the sponsoring state.
Three ways to sponsor terrorism
1. Sanctuary
Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (Iran) and Ansar al-Islam/Al-Sunnah.
Sudan and al-Qaeda.
2. Supplies
Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (Iran) and Hezbollah.
Saudi Arabia and the Afghanistan Taliban, Al Qaeda, Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) and the Al-Nusra Front.
Soviet Union/KGB and Official IRA.
3. Services
India’s Research and Analysis and LTTE;
What is Political Repression
Political repression is the act of a state entity controlling a citizenry by force for political reasons, to restrict or prevent their ability to take part in the political life of a society thereby reducing their standing.
Political repression is often accompanied by violence, which might be legal or illegal according to domestic law.
Examples:
Exile;
Extermination;
Extortion;
Extrajudicial killing;
Extraordinary rendition;
Forced disappearance;
Human rights violations,
Imprisonment;
Involuntary settlement;
Murder;
Police brutality;
Stripping of citizen’s rights;
Summary execution;
Surveillance abuse;
Torture.
Why would one use political repression?
- Message Strength
o To intimidate and to demonstrate the willingness to use violence to ensure compliance. - Obedience
o To create obedience, either of the population at large or within the ruling party. - Elimination of enemies
o Killing of opposition and threatening of external forces. - State-dissident nexus
o Provoking of indiscriminate reactions or repression to expose the “true nature” of the opponent.
What is Genocide
What are the two types of genocide?
Ideological.
Following a war or revolution, a new elite has a vision of a purified society (e.g., Cambodia, Nazi Germany.
Retributive.
One party, usually the government, will systematically destroy its opponent’s support base (e.g., South Vietnam, Guatemala, Angola and Sri Lanka).
What is the operational definition of genocide?
“Genocides and politicides are the promotion, execution, and/or implied consent of sustained policies by governing elites or their agents—or, in the case of civil war, either of the contending authorities—that are intended to destroy, in whole or part, a communal, political, or politicized ethnic group.” (Harff 2003, p. 58)
