The essay must be properly referenced, using University of West England Harvard Referencing style. Find the link for the UWE referencing below
https://www.uwe.ac.uk/library/info/refbuilder/
You must use the Required readings below for this work. There are additional resources below which must also be used as well as your independent research.
On this essay details, you will find questions for discussions which is of great importance for this work. Please use the UK English for this work.
ESSAY QUESTION:
‘Violence itself participates in the definition of violence.’ (Coronil and Skurski, p.6 ) Discuss.
REQUIRED READINGS
1)Arendt, H. (1970) Excerpt from Part II. On Violence. London: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, pp. 43-56.
2) Mandela, N. (1964) An Ideal for Which I am Prepared to Die – Part I (Mandela’s Statement from the Dock at the Rivonia Trial, Pretoria, 20 April 1964). Guardian
3) Butler, J. (2020) Introduction. The Force of Nonviolence. London: Verso, 1-25.
ADDITIONAL RESOURCES
Bernstein, R. J. (2013) Violence: Thinking without Banisters. Cambridge: Polity.
Coronil, F. and Skurski, J. (2006) States of Violence. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press.
Della Porta, D. (1995) Social Movements, Political Violence and the State. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Evans, B. and Carver, T. (2017) Histories of Violence: Post-war Critical Thought. London: Zed.
Galtung, J. (1969) Violence, Peace and Peace Research. Journal of Peace Research. 6 (3), pp. 167-191.
Ruggiero, V. (2006) Understanding Political Violence: A Criminological Approach. Maidenhead: Open University Press.
Tilly, C. (1985) War Making and State Making as Organized Crime. In: Evans, P., Rueschemeyer, D., and Skocpol, T., eds., Bringing the State Back
In. Eds. (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1985), pp. 169-187.
Žižek, S. (2008) Violence: Six Sideways Reflections. London: Profile.
Arendt, H. (1970) On Violence. London: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich.
Bernstein, R. J. (2013) Violence: Thinking without Banisters. Cambridge: Polity. [Especially Chapter 3 on Arendt]
Çubukçu, A. (2017) Thinking Against Humanity. London Review of International Law. 5 (2), pp. 251-267.
Evans, B. and Carver, T. (2017) Histories of Violence: Post-war Critical Thought. London: Zed. [Especially Chapter 3 on Arendt]
Frazer, E. and Hutchings, K. (2008) On Politics and Violence: Arendt Contra Fanon. Contemporary Political Theory. 7 (1), pp. 90-108.
QUESTIONS FOR DISCUSSION
What are the different possible definitions of violence? What about ‘political’ violence?
What is the definition of ‘political violence’ that Fernando Coronil and Julie Skurski work with in their Introduction to States of Violence?
Why is the relationship between power and ‘violence’?
What is Butler’s criticism of ‘self-defence’ as justified violence?
What do Coronil and Skursi mean when they write: ‘the rhetoric of violence is thus inseparable from the violence of rhetoric’ (p. 6)?
When political activists and leaders contemplate the question of violence, they usually do so in terms of the congruence between means and ends. How do the texts you have read for this week theorise the instrumentality of violence? What are some of the justifications and critiques of violence they offer?
How does Arendt differentiate power, strength, force, authority, and violence? What are her respective definitions of these terms? Do they make sense to you?
What is the distinction that Nelson Mandela makes between terrorism and the type of violence that Umkhonto we Sizwe (Spear of the Nation) resorted to? Do you agree with this difference?
How does Nelson Mandela’s explanation of the movement’s recourse to violence as “responsible leadership” compare to Arendt’s view that ‘power and violence are opposites’?
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