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Dynamics of Violence
Processes of Escalation and De-Escalation in Violent Group Conflicts
Editors: Elwert, Georg | Feuchtwang, Stephan | Neubert, Dieter
Sociologus. Beihefte / Supplements, Vol. 1
(1999)
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Abstract
Violence is embedded in social structure. It follows specific dynamics which make it unpredictable for the individual case but calculable as a social phenomenon - this is the central message of this reader.To lay persons violence may appear as irruption or the inhuman into a human world. The broad comparison of social, anthropological, and sociological case studies from Africa, Asia, Europe, and South America shows, however, that motives and forms of violence are patterned. Each pattern has its own dynamic of escalation and de-escalation which makes prediction difficult for the individual case. As part of these dynamics appear also restraints to the escalation called inhibitors. The study of these does not promise the construction of violence-free societies but it might allow for targetting interventions for peace in a more accurate manner.An important element of these studies is the systematic analysis of the difference between the constructed outside appearance of violence and the dynamic system which reproduces it. Thus cultural strategies of wealth accumulation, prestige acquisition, and healing come to the foreground. Contributors to this volume include Alber, Erdmute; Allen, Tim; Elwert, Georg; Feuchtwang, Stephan; Grohs, Gerhard; Helbing, Jürg; Neubert, Dieter; Schmidt, Heike; Schwandner-Sievers, Stephanie; Strecker, Ivo; v. Trotha, Trutz; Waldmann, Peter.
Table of Contents
| Section Title | Page | Action | Price |
|---|---|---|---|
| Acknowledgement | 5 | ||
| Contents | 7 | ||
| Georg Elwert, Stephan Feuchtwang, and Dieter Neubert: The Dynamics of Collective Violence – An Introduction | 9 | ||
| 1. Types of Collective Violence | 10 | ||
| 2. Warring or Oscillating Violence as a Normal State of Affairs | 12 | ||
| 3. War Catastrophes, Exceptional or Escalating Violence | 16 | ||
| 4. The Motives and Aims of CoIIective VioIence | 20 | ||
| 5. CoIIective Violence in Modernity | 23 | ||
| 6. Processes of De-Escalation | 27 | ||
| I. The Logic of Violence – Theoretical Approaches | 33 | ||
| Trutz von Trotha: Forms of Martial Power: Total Wars, Wars of Pacification, and Raid. Some Observations on the Typology of Violence | 35 | ||
| Introduction | 35 | ||
| 1. What is War? | 36 | ||
| 2. Total War in Stateless Societies and Highly Industrialised Nation-States | 43 | ||
| 3. 'Limited' and 'Unlimited' Wars of Pacification: The Case of German Colonial Wars in Africa | 45 | ||
| 4. German Colonial Wars in Africa: Were They Total Wars? | 49 | ||
| 5. What is Raid? | 54 | ||
| 6. Towards a Theoretical Ethnography of Violence | 58 | ||
| Peter Waldmann: Societies in Civil War | 61 | ||
| Introduction | 61 | ||
| 1. Recurring Conditions of Civil Wars | 63 | ||
| 2. Immediate Consequences of Civil Wars | 66 | ||
| 3. Auto-Dynamics of Violent Processes | 70 | ||
| 4. Repercussions of the Auto-Dynamics on other Spheres of Society | 76 | ||
| 5. The Lacking Function, Meaning and Sense of Civil Wars | 82 | ||
| Georg Elwert: Markets of Violence | 85 | ||
| Introduction | 85 | ||
| 1. Markets of Violence as the Reproductive System of Warlords | 86 | ||
| 2. Partial Markets and Market Strategies as Elements of an Economic System | 88 | ||
| 3. Stabilising Markets of Violence | 93 | ||
| 4. The Origins of Markets of Violence | 95 | ||
| 5. The Demise of Markets of Violence | 97 | ||
| 6. Epilogue: Are There Political Options to Promote Peace from the Outside? | 100 | ||
| 7. Conclusion | 101 | ||
| Jürg Helbling: The Dynamics of War and Alliance Among the Yanomami | 103 | ||
| Introduction | 103 | ||
| 1. War in a System of Anarchy | 105 | ||
| 2. War as the ResuIt of Strategie Interaction | 107 | ||
| 3. War and Alliance | 110 | ||
| 4. The Process of Escalation and De-Escalation | 112 | ||
| 5. Summary | 115 | ||
| II. Auto-Regulation of Violence and Escalation | 117 | ||
| Erdmute Alber: Violent Conflicts in West-African Borgu on the Eve of Colonisation | 119 | ||
| Introduction | 119 | ||
| 1. Warlords in the Multi-Ethnic Borgu | 121 | ||
| 2. Feuds | 122 | ||
| 3. Caravan Raids | 124 | ||
| 4. Cattle Raids | 125 | ||
| 5. Slave Raids | 126 | ||
| 6. Redistribution at Baatombu Festivals | 128 | ||
| 7. Raids and Gifts | 131 | ||
| 8. Conclusion | 131 | ||
| Stephanie Schwandner-Sievers: Humiliation and Reconciliation in Northern Albania. The Logics of Feuding in Symbolic and Diachronic Perspectives | 133 | ||
| Introduction | 133 | ||
| 1. The kanun-Discourse | 137 | ||
| 2. Different Generations Contesting kanun | 139 | ||
| 3. Status Politics, Exclusion, and Inversion | 142 | ||
| 4. "Besë!" or the Honour of Protecting a "Friend" | 143 | ||
| 5. "Black-Face" and "White-Face" - The Logic of Symbolic Coercion | 145 | ||
| 6. Albanian Feuds and States throughout Time | 146 | ||
| 7. Modern Political Culture and besë | 149 | ||
| 8. Concluding Remarks | 150 | ||
| Dieter Neubert: Dynamics of Escalating Violence | 153 | ||
| Introduction: Analysing the Process of Escalation Instead of Causal Explanation | 153 | ||
| 1. Historical Background: A Process of Ethnogenesis | 157 | ||
| 2. The Situation at the Beginning of the Nineties | 158 | ||
| 3. The Presence of the Option for Violence | 160 | ||
| 4. The Legitimisation of Violence | 160 | ||
| 5. The Organisation of Violence | 164 | ||
| 6. Progressive Escalation | 166 | ||
| 7. Conclusion | 172 | ||
| III. De-Escalation and Treatment of the Consequences of Violence | 175 | ||
| Tim Allen: War, Genocide, and Aid. The Genocide in Rwanda | 177 | ||
| Introduction: A World at War | 177 | ||
| 1. Humanitarian Aid | 182 | ||
| 2. NGOs and War Zones, 1968-1989 | 185 | ||
| 3. The Role of the Post Cold War UN | 191 | ||
| 4. Later Experiments with Armed Humanitarianism | 195 | ||
| 5. Conclusion | 198 | ||
| Postscript | 200 | ||
| Gerhard Grohs: About the Role of Churches in the Peace Process in Africa and Central America | 203 | ||
| Introduction | 203 | ||
| 1. Peace Negotiations in EI Salvador | 204 | ||
| 2. Peace Processes in Mozambique | 206 | ||
| Heike Schmidt: Neither War Nor Peace: Making Sense of Violence | 211 | ||
| Introduction | 211 | ||
| 1. The Case Study | 212 | ||
| 2. Civilians and Combatants - Victims and Perpetrators | 213 | ||
| 3. Making Sense of Violence While it is Going On | 217 | ||
| 4. Making Sense of Violence in its Aftermath | 222 | ||
| 5. Neither War Nor Peace | 225 | ||
| Ivo Strecker: The Temptations of War and the Struggle for Peace Among the Hamar of Southern Ethiopia | 227 | ||
| Introduction: The Historical Setting | 227 | ||
| 1. Traditional Patterns of Warfare | 230 | ||
| 2. Theoretical Orientation | 235 | ||
| 3. Witnessing the Struggle for Peace and the Temptations of War in Hamar | 238 | ||
| 4. Madness as the Ultimate Cause of War | 249 | ||
| 5. The Rhetoric and Magie of Ceremonial Peace-Making | 252 | ||
| 6. By Way of Conclusion | 258 | ||
| Bibliography | 261 |