Political Violence in Context: Time, Space and Milieu

Context is crucial to understanding the causes of political violence and the form it takes. This book examines how time, space and supportive milieux decisively shape the pattern and pace of such violence. 

While much of the work in this field focuses on individual psychology or radical ideology, Bosi, Ó Dochartaigh, Pisoiu and others take a fresh look at the importance of context in generating mobilisation and shaping patterns of violence. 

The cases dealt with range from Asia, Africa and Europe to the Americas, and from the Irish rebellion of 1916 through the Marxist insurgency of Sendero Luminoso to the ‘Invisible Commando’ of Côte d’Ivoire. They encompass separatist guerrillas, Marxist insurgents, Islamist militants, nationalist insurrectionists and the distinctive forms of urban violence that have emerged at the boundary between crime and politics. 

Chapters offer new theoretical perspectives on the decisive importance of the spatial and temporal contexts, and supportive milieux, in which parties to conflict are embedded, and from which they draw strength.

'This most welcome collection helps fill the gap through theoretical reflections and empirical evidence, and it contextualizes political violence, recognising the importance of contingency and agency within a relational approach.'
Donatella della Porta, European University Institute

Keywords: Political Violence, Social Movements, Terrorism, Political Activism