Working with the Causal Model of Political Violence

1. Working with the Causal Model of Political Violence

2. A “general theory” of political violence Social Conditions Types of Political Violence Psychological Pre-Conditions combine with Socio-Biological Factors Anthropological Concepts & Cases Economic Structures & Preconditions Scope Intensity Political Variables

3. A “general theory” of political violence Psychological Pre-Conditions -Anomie -Frustration aggression -Contagion -Cognitive dissonance -Relative deprivation Biological Economic Preconditions -The dominance- submission nexus within society • Types of Political • Violence • Assassination • Insurgency by groups • General turmoil • Civil War • Repression by the state Social Conditions -Justifications -nominative -utilitarian -Legitimacy -Socialization -Politicization -Institutional support -functional -institutional -Political symbols -Balance of coercion -resources -ideology -release mechanisms Scope Intensity Political Variables Government Policies: short run vs. long run

4. Where does the reading fit?

5. Psychological pre-conditions 0 • Anomie (sociology – Durkheim) • Frustration – Aggression (Psychology) • Cognitive Dissonance (Psychology) • Contagion (Social-Psych) • Relative Deprivation (Social-Psych; PoliSci ,Soc) • RD is rooted in perception (the relationship between expectation and actual capacity) • Aspirational • Decremental • J - Curve

6. 0 Expectations increase while capacities remain static

7. 0 Expectations remain static while capacities decrease

8. 0 Both expectations and capacities increase for a time, but capacities plateau and then decrease

9. Biological and socio-biological 0 • Charles Darwin – 19th century claim of species competition and “survival of the fittest” – assuming such occurs from triumph, usually via force • Are we instinctually (primordially) violent? Conrad Lorenz thought so; most anthropologists prove not so…we have lived too long without murder or organized violence • Biological determinism: Suggests that as human animals, we are genetically determined to be violent • Modified version: Some are genetically “predisposed” to violence

10. Findings to date • There is a psychobiology/or a psycho-biochemistry to this – and it is “selective”. • Chemical imbalances are sufficient conditions to lead (stimulate) some to engage in violence • When chemical mix with social and psychological stimuli, there is a high likelihood of violence • In all situations these can be limited by social constraints • “Tougher” finding relates to biochemical “high” derived from engaging in violence, the narcotic effect

11. Where does variation by gender come in? 0 • Reality of testosterone • The rest is learned (socialization) • Does “mother instinct” drive some under poverty or despair to violence?

12. Psycho-social ‘innate’ adjustment 0 • Robert Jay Lifton, in “The Nazi Doctors”, goes further than this....grotesque or large scale violence must have a full duality, with perpetrators operating in a different world: they must engage in “doubling”.

13. Anthropological 0 • Excerpts from Foreign Affairs article of Jan/Feb ’06 by Robert M Sapolsky, “A Natural History of Peace”. • What does the reading have to add? Consider the essays from Eller.

14. Application: Brainstorm/discuss solutions • Frustrated with recent explanations of political violence in Iraq, Afghanistan, Somalia and elsewhere, the U.S. Government has issued a “call for proposals” which will examine “new and dynamic concepts which help explain problems of on-going violence in society”. A friend working in the White House has called and asked for input. Using Eller, et al. as a guide, what should we send her?

15. A “general theory” of political violence Psychological Pre-Conditions -Anomie -Frustration aggression -Contagion -Cognitive dissonance -Relative deprivation Biological Economic Preconditions -The dominance- submission nexus within society • Types of Political • Violence • Assassination • Insurgency by groups • General turmoil • Civil War • Repression by the state Social Conditions -Justifications -nominative -utilitarian -Legitimacy -Socialization -Politicization -Institutional support -functional -institutional -Political symbols -Balance of coercion -resources -ideology -release mechanisms Scope Intensity Political Variables Government Policies: short run vs. long run

16. Economic pre-conditions 0 • Economic structure of dominance-submission in relationships • Real conditions filtered by perception (relative deprivation!) • Competitive economic units (class) • The societal conflict trap of Collier’s, “Breaking the Conflict Trap”

17. Social conditions:What “fires us up” 0 • Justifications: utilitarian vs. normative • Legitimacy • Socialization • Politicization • Political symbols • Support mechanisms: structural, cultural • Resources, ideology, release mechanisms