Is politics necessarily violent? Does the justifiability of violence
depend on whether it is perpetrated to defend or upend the existing
order - or perhaps on the way in which it is conducted? Is violence
simply direct physical harm, or can it also be structural, symbolic, or
epistemic?
In this book, Elizabeth Frazer and Kimberley Hutchings explore how
political theorists, from Niccolo Machiavelli to Elaine Scarry, have
addressed these issues. They engage with both defenders and critics of
violence in politics, analysing their diverse justificatory and
rhetorical strategies in order to draw out the enduring themes of these
debates. They show how political theorists have tended to evade the
central difficulties raised by violence by either reducing it to a
neutral tool or identifying it with something quite distinct, such as
justice or virtue. They argue that, because violence is necessarily
wrapped up with hierarchical and exclusive structures and imaginaries,
legitimising it in terms of the ends that it serves, or how it is
perpetrated, no longer makes sense.
This book will be an invaluable resource for students and scholars in
areas ranging from the ethics of terror and war to radical and
revolutionary political thought.