Political Violence - Science topic

Heaven is not a dream but a reality according to the Scripture.

What I know is that such studies are informative when using qualitative approaches to explore your research ground.

Уважаемые коллеги!

В России политическое насилие на выборах исследуется в рамках "Электоральной криминологии", а в целом политическое насилие как средство достижения политических целей в рамках "Политической криминологии", а жертвы политического насилия исследуются "Криминальной политической виктимологией".

The topic is quite interesting and the objectives are clear and straightforward I'm looking forward to read the outcome. Michel Hervé Bertaux-Navoiseau interesting to read about violence and circumcision thank you.

Previous Muslims brought civilization to Africa. Then the West came to Africa. Some of those Muslims were infected with terrorism. Others remained away from the essence of Islam. "False Islam" started to circulate in the middle.

As in the example of Timbuktu. Old Timbuktu was distributing civilization to Africa. When he began to exploit Africa, the religion started to be called violently.

Hi Bunmi, yes, we have plans to publish an edite volume of papers after the conference.

After all, local laws set the standard?

Of course it can and I’d be willing to wager it is the only effective means by which an amenable outcome can be achieved. Look at the history of large scale violence compared to small conflict. At the end of hostilities there still has to be a meeting of the minds to map a way forward that is a win-win for all parties concerned. No opposing sides can hear each other when they are engaged in physical violence. At some point a truce is called and credible mediator is brought in to facilitate and come to an agreement for both sides. This individual or entity can be duel hatted and be responsible for ensuring both sides or all parties adhere to whatever agreement is hashed out between the opposing parties. Thereby finally arriving at a peaceful solution and containing the violence.

Current theories relating to mentalisation (cf the work of Peter Fonagy, London) and its broader application at a large group/population level e.g. school shooting and bullying in schools (Stuart Twemlow, USA) has a great deal to say about violence. This theory derives from post-Kleinian contributions from influential analysts such as Wilfred Bion. There is a very strong tradition of clinical application of psychoanalytic theories to violence and perverse behaviour in the work at Portland Clinic (London) over the past 30 years or more. Regarding terrorism there is a host of psychoanalytic materials - start with this - S. Varvin & V. D. Volkan (Eds), Violence or dialogue? Psychoanalytic insights on terror and terrorism. London: International Psychoanalysis Library.

Dear Tom,

in my opinion as pointed out earlier we are already in the middle of WW3.

The main driving forces are : fanatism and intolerance (terrorism), egoism of single persons and of single states (hegemonial power) ,  money and raw materials , ....

The tools of course are besides "normal" weapons different from WW 1 and 2: Internet,

But the main driving forces are similar.

So for me your question is not "what will happen if WW3 breaks out", but how will develop the present situation with hot spots all over the planet..

May be it will run at the same or even higher  level for the next 10 to 20 years, The effect will be a dramatic environmental desease because the states will invest in weapons instead of investing in reduction of emissions. 100 times more refugees will survive coming to the north.

Peter

Dear Holm;

Dear Napoleon;

I agree with the trouble dichotomization of the the West-East or North-South. However, I believe in looking, as academicians, to analytic boundaries beyond the established cannons and look evidence from context and get back to revisiting and rethinking on the established approaches, methods and analysis. Maybe, cann't we search for alternative or supportive explanations outside what is established for democracy or otherwise? I encourage Holm and hope more thought provoking issues emerge along the discussion. 

Filmon (Ethiopia)

Check the websites of the Human Rights Forum and Solidarity Peace Trust for analysis on electoral violence in Zimbabwe throughout the 2000's.   

Here may be part of the answer ...

The GDP per capita was as follows for these countries, expressed in current $US :

Syria:           2,080/ cap in 2007

Yemen :       1,408/ cap in 2013

Burundi :         286/ cap in 2014

Belgium :   47,517/ cap in 2014

U.S.A. :      54,629/ cap in 2014

So clearly, if we just bomb Syria, Yemen and Burundi off of the map, the data would be a lot stronger for suggesting that there is no relation between poverty and violence, in keeping with your hypothesis.

If anyone links Islam or Muslims to terrorism, then my advice to him/her is to broaden his/her vision beyond the "tool" and to search for the "real" mastermind of global terrorism. One cannot blame a "knife" for killing someone; the "person" ,who used this deadly weapon, is to blame & punish. Few questions may help: Who has an interest in destablizing Europe? Who works hard on preventing a meaningful United Europe ? Who targeted Arabic & Muslim countries with invasions & internal troubles? Who established these terrorist gangs & financed them? Who has done lot of work to defame Islam & to portray a negative image of it by huge media machines and by exploiting some philosophical "oriental" mercenaries ? ... 

Hezbollah, AMAL and Kataeb are parties with bloody legacy from Lebanese civil war. They are powerful parties in Lebanon today and their impact on political constestation is studied by many. It could be a comparative point which may expose a repeating pattern. 

What population are you hoping to look within? You'll have to be very careful about your choice of a control group as intergroup heterogeneity is likely a problem (your trauma effect may just be cultural or SES based). You'd likely need a system where only some individuals in an age cohort have experienced political violence

Dear Adrein,

Given the times, the issue you are dealing with is not just topical but very imperative. My speciality is urban planning but just like everyone else violence, like an evil wind, touches everyone, one way or the other. I believe you have seen the piece on "Someone Stole My Smile: An Exploration into the Causes of Youth Violence in South Africa" edited by Patrick Burton (2007) < http://scholar.google.nl/scholar?q=faith-based+organization+and+curbing+violence+in+south+Africa+&btnG=&hl=en&as_sdt=0%2C5>.

Besides, a focus on the role of faith-based organisations is also key in violence reduction or prevention. For example, the Johns Hopkins' Bloomberg School of Public Health is currently doing a similar thing with its Faith-Based Violence Prevention Initiatives <http://www.jhsph.edu/research/centers-and-institutes/center-for-prevention-of-youth-violence/faith_based_initiatives>

I wish you all the best the best in your endeavour! 

Good point! I think that a major discussion of that question is still Rosa Luxemburg's treatment of the general strike in her 1909 pamphlet (available here: http://www.marxists.org/archive/luxemburg/1906/mass-strike/)

Similarly Walter Benjamin's discussion in Zur Kritik der Gewalt still repays a close reading.

You may want to have a look at André Gorz's work especially from the 1960s, especially his book "Le Socialisme difficile" (Seuil 1967).

There is a short discussion in Geoffrey Kay and James Mott, Political Order and the Law of Labour, London, MacMillan, 1982.

Dear Dr. Mehler,

Since I wrote my Master’s Thesis about African Armed Forces and how they changed after the end of the Cold War, I am following the current conflicts in CAR and South Sudan with huge interest. Since the outbreak of the wars in 2012 and 2013 I am collecting and summarizing newspaper articles, NGO reports and other international research papers. In addition to this, I created my own database with an overview of the historical and military development in the two countries.

Kind regards,

Torsten Konopka

Raquel, I think you present a very important concern. If you, as the researcher, are doing the interviews, then you are the intended audience for the stories. Perhaps part of your writing up can be an exploration of your struggle to have your invitations to trust be taken up by your participants? What does this struggle say about what is possible, and what is not possible for your participants? What does this struggle say about what is possible and what is not possible for you, as researcher (a woman, perhaps young when your participants are older or men, etc)? I think these struggles can be made visible. They are part of the research, and a very important part at that. While we, as researchers, gaze out upon the landscape of our research, we are also standing in that landscape ourselves. It is not so much about what sense we make of what we are told (as if we are discovering the "truth" about some aspect), but what sense we are able to make, given the limits of our own discursive repertoires, and those of our participants.

Hi George,

Thank you. That sounds very interesting. I would like to know more about it. People that were imprisoned in the German Democratic Republic (Eastern Germany) between 1949 and 1989 because of political reasons were in our research sample (2008/09). We started to investigate the transmission of politically determined trauma in a sample of offsprings of the victims in 2010/11. I am always curious about research about the psychological situation of victims of political violence in other countries. But, it is difficult to compare the long-term sequalae between countries due to the different forms of political violence.

Best,

Gregor