CHAPTER 7

‘POLITICAL VIOLENCE’

Aila Ali Khan

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NATIONAL DEFENCE UNIVERSITY,ISLAMABAD

TABLE OF CONTENTS

INTRODUCTION VIOLENCE REVOLUTION

• SYSTEM • AS A SYMPTOM. • INTELECTUALS
• TYPES OF VIOLENCE AND REVOLUTION
BREAKDOWN • CHANGES AS A • THE STAGES OF
CAUSE OF VIOLENCE REVOLUTION
• AFTER THE
REVOLUTION

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INTRODUCTION

 Political scientists often talked about systems and stability

 Some depicted politics as well oiled machine that works well without breaking
down until the 1960s i.e. when the riots broke out and images of violence showed
by media
 Political scientists began questioning their definition of politics and directed their
attention to the break outs and violence.
 With the 1965-1968 riots academics suddenly discovered violence in America. The
violence that was previously viewed as abnormal , many acadamcs along with black
militant H.Rap Brown suggested that ‘ violence was as American as cherry pie’
 The nationalities of ex Yugoslavia slaughtered each other in the 90s that none was
immune to violence.
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 SYSTEM BREAKDOWN
 Political systems can and do breakdown, most countries have
suffered system breakdown
 In most of the cases, after such breakdowns, dictatorships
would be the end result. Which is usually of little good to the
country
Example After the breakdown of Russian empire in 1917,
Russian system was collapsed. Resultantly, Russian faced worst
dictatorship of Bolsheviks, especially Lenin and Stalin.
 Why does system breakdown occur repeatedly in some
countries?
the answer is simple Breakdown starts when legitimacy erodes.
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 VIOLENCE AS A SYMPTOM
 Violence does not always indicate revolution. Instead military
takeover is a more common response to domestic unrest. it be seen
as a sign of governments ineffectiveness and lack of legitimacy
 Change of government can usually calm the unrest however the
government usually crushes it instead and blame it on radical and
trouble makers that worsens the situation
 Domestic violence is both deplorable and informative- it tells us not
everything is going well
 As much we hate violence we must accept that in some cases it
serves a purpose.
For example the US and congress paid little attention to the plight of
inner city blacks until a series of riots ripped the US cities in the
1960s

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 TYPES OF VIOLENCE
 Primordial:This type of violence usually grows out of
conflict among the basic communities– ethnic, national, or
religious. It is not necessarily confined to developing
countries
It is sometimes an outgrowth of primordial
 Separatist:
conflict that aims at independence for group in question
It aims at replacing or overthrowing already
 Revolutionary:
existing regime
 Coups:These are usually aimed against corruption,
revolution and chaos. Coups are usually military
 Issues: Some violence does not fit in any category.

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 CHANGE AS A CAUSE OF
VIOLENCE
 Purely traditional societies with old authority patterns and economy are
relatively untroubled by violence
 Likewise, modern societies with rational authorities have minor violence
 It is the in-between stage, as modernization is upsetting traditional societies
does violence arise. As everything is changing for them it leaves people
confused, worried and ripe for violence
as the greate French social scientist Alex de Tocqueville observed that though
the reign of Louis XVI was the most prosperous period of monarchy, this very
prosperity hastened the breakout of revolution of 1789. why?
The problem is not poverty itself but relative depleration.
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 REVOLUTIONS

 A revolution is a quick, dramatic system change that

throws out the old system along with its elites.
 A small or moderate change that essentially leaves the
system intact is reform, not revolution.
 Some regimes, to quiet mass discontent, claim they are
going through a revolution, but the changes may be largely
cosmetic. One test of a real revolution is to see if it has
swept out old elites. If they are still in power, there has
been no revolution.
 Frustration is one thing; revolution is something else.
People may be unhappy over one thing or another. Unrest
and discontent by themselves will not bring down a
regime; for that, organization is essential
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 INTELLECTUALS AND REVOLUTION

 The previous factors we have considered may point to violence—

rioting and strikes—but without organization, they will not
produce a revolution. Who provides the organization? For this, we
turn to the role of intellectuals.
 Intellectuals are nearly everywhere discontent with the existing
state of affairs because they are highly educated and acquainted
with a variety of ideas, often have a professional stake in
criticizing the system. If everything were fine, there would be little
to talk or write about.
 Intellectuals, although sometimes better off, are seldom wealthy
 Most twentieth-century revolutionary movements were founded
and led by educated people
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 THE STAGES OF REVOLUTION
 The Old Regime Decays: Administration breaks down, and taxes rise. People no
longer believe in the government; in fact, the government doubts itself
 The First Stage of Revolution: Committees, networks, cells, or conspiracies form,
dedicated to overthrowing the old regime. People refuse to pay taxes. A political
impasse arises that cannot be solved because the lines are too deeply drawn.
 At First, Moderates Take Over: People who opposed the old regime but were still
connected with it by dint of background or training assume command. They
initiate moderate, nonradical reforms
 The Extremists Take Over: More ruthless and better organized than the moderates
and knowing exactly what they want, the extremists overthrow the moderates and
drive the revolution to a frenzied high point
 A “Thermidor” Ends the Reign of Terror: Eventually, the society can take no
more revolution. Both the revolutionists and people gets tired of it
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 AFTER THE REVOLUTION

 Revolutions show a persistent tendency to overthrow one form of tyranny only to replace it
with another
 In little more than a decade, the French kings had been replaced by Napoleon, who crowned
himself emperor and supervised a police state far more thorough than anything previous. The
partial despotism of the tsars was replaced by the perfect despotism of Stalin
 What good are revolutions? One is tempted to despair with Simon Bolivar, the liberator of
South America, who said, “He who aids a revolution plows the sea.” In general, revolutions
end badly

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 But what about the United States? We call our 1776–1781 struggle with Britain the
Revolutionary War but is it actually revolution
 Revolution, although popular in the 1960s, developed a bad reputation in the 1970s. By the
1980s, many radical countries were trying to back out of their revolutionary systems
 The worst revolutionary horror was Cambodia. In the late 1970s, the Khmer Rouge (Red
Cambodia) murdered an estimated 1.7 million of their fellow citizens
 Notice the difference between countries before and after revolutions. Before, revolutionary
movements are still idealistic
 But after seizing power, the revolutionary regime discovers it’s a lot harder to make an
economy work than it thought

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 VIOLENT VS VELVET
REVOLUTION
Violent
• as the name suggests these are highly violent
revolutions that ends up in bloody mass. The
previous elites or rulers are executed or exiled
• There are also moderate revolutionist but they are
not accepted as most people claim that revolution is
supposed to be violent and meant to over throw
previous government
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velvet
• These revolutions are largely nonviolent mass
outpourings that reject corrupt, bungling regimes.
The old elites lose power but are not executed or
exiled
• Some scholars say these velvet revolutionsare not
revolutions at all because they lack the ferocious
qualities of violent revolutions. But
• if, as we argued, revolution means sweeping
• system change
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