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  3. Violence and Democracy
  • Cited by 128
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    • Publisher:
      Cambridge University Press
      Publication date:
      24 May 2010
      24 June 2004
      ISBN:
      9780511756023
      9780521836999
      9780521545440
      DOI:
      https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511756023
      Dimensions:
      (228 x 152 mm)
      Weight & Pages:
      0.495kg, 228 Pages
      Dimensions:
      (228 x 152 mm)
      Weight & Pages:
      0.31kg, 228 Pages
      • Subjects:
      Political Theory, Politics and International Relations, Philosophy, Political Philosophy
      Series:
      Contemporary Political Theory
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    • Selected: Digital
    Add to cart View cart Buy from Cambridge.org
    Subjects:
    Political Theory, Politics and International Relations, Philosophy, Political Philosophy
    Series:
    Contemporary Political Theory
    Information

    Book description

    In this provocative book, John Keane calls for a fresh understanding of the vexed relationship between democracy and violence. Taking issue with the common sense view that 'human nature' is violent, Keane shows why mature democracies do not wage war upon each other, and why they are unusually sensitive to violence. He argues that we need to think more discriminatingly about the origins of violence, its consequences, its uses and remedies. He probes the disputed meanings of the term violence, and asks why violence is the greatest enemy of democracy, and why today's global 'triangle of violence' is tempting politicians to invoke undemocratic emergency powers. Throughout, Keane gives prominence to ethical questions, such as the circumstances in which violence can be justified, and argues that violent behaviour and means of violence can and should be 'democratised' - made publicly accountable to others, so encouraging efforts to erase surplus violence from the world.

    Reviews

    ‘Keane’s is a learned, at times almost magisterial, book. He writes easily and with grace about a variety of relevant topics from liberal political theory to contemporary apocalyptic terrorism, from Sorel to Muslim fundamentalism. At every turn the reader is taken on a gambit into a relevant literature and comes away braced by the journey. It is descriptively ambitious yet energized by a normative argument. It is as current as today’s politics yet in touch with classic traditions in political theory and sociology. As a result, Violence and Democracy is impressive indeed.’

    Austin D. Sarat - Amherst College, Massachusetts

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    Contents

    Contents
    References
    Further reading
    Further reading
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    Blok, Anton, Honour and Violence, Cambridge 2001
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    Jünger, Ernst, Im Stahlgewittern, Berlin 1931
    Kaldor, Mary, The Baroque Arsenal, New York 1982
    Keane, John, ‘Despotism and democracy. The origins and development of the distinction between civil society and the state, 1750–1850’, in John Keane, ed., Civil Society and the State. New European Perspectives, London and New York 1988
    Keen, Maurice, Chivalry, New Haven 1984
    Kelman, Herbert C., ‘Violence without moral restraint: reflections on the dehumanization of victims and victimizers’, Journal of Social Issues, 29, 4 (1973), pp. 25–61
    Kendrick, Walter, The Thrill of Fear: 250 Years of Scary Entertainment, New York 1991
    Leiden, Carl, and Karl M. Schmitt, The Politics of Violence: Revolution in the Modern World, Englewood Cliffs, NJ 1968
    Lemarchand, René, Burundi. Ethnocide as Discourse and Practice, Cambridge 1994
    Lindqvist, Sven, A History of Bombing, London 2001
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    McMahan, Jeff, The Ethics of Killing. Problems at the Margins of Life, Oxford 2002
    Malcolm, Joyce Lee, To Keep and Bear Arms: The Origins of an Anglo-American Right, Cambridge, MA 1994
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    Mansfield, Edward D., and Jack, Snyder, ‘Democratization and War’, Foreign Affairs, 74, 3 (May–June 1995), pp. 79–97
    Marx, Gary T., Undercover: Police Surveillance in America, New York 1988
    Marx, Gary T., Civil Disorder and the Agents of Social Control, Irvington 1993
    Mier, Paul, John Keane and Alberto Melucci, ‘New perspectives on social movements: an interview’, in John Keane and Paul Mier, eds., Nomads of the Present, London and Philadelphia 1989
    Minear Larry, and Thomas G. Weiss, Mercy Under Fire. War and the Global Humanitarian Community, Boulder, CO, San Francisco and Oxford 1995
    Nancy, Jean-Luc, ‘Violence et violence’, Lignes, 25 (May 1995), pp. 293–8
    Paret, Peter, Understanding War. Essays on Clausewitz and the History of Military Power, Princeton, NJ 1992
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    Preston, R. A., S. F. Wise, and H. O. Werner, Men in Arms: A History of Warfare and its Interrelationships with Western Society, London 1956
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    Ruff, Julius R., Violence in Early Modern Europe 1500–1800, Cambridge 2001
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    Searles, Patricia, and Ronald J. Berger, eds., Rape and Society. Readings on the Problem of Sexual Assault, Boulder, CO, San Francisco and Oxford 1995
    Silberner, Edmond, La Guerre dans la pensée économique du XVI au XVIII siècle, Paris 1939
    Singh, Birinder Pal, Violence as Political Discourse, Shimla 2002
    Steger, Manfred B., and Nancy S. Lind, eds., Violence and its Alternatives, Basingstoke 1999
    Toynbee, Arnold J., War and Civilization, London, New York and Toronto 1951
    Vernant, Jean-Pierre, ed., Problèmes de la guerre en Grèce ancienne, Paris 1968
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    Wheeler, Nick, Saving Strangers. Humanitarian Intervention in International Society, Oxford and New York 2000
    Whitmer, Barbara, The Violence Mythos, Albany, NY 1997
    Wolfner, Glenn D. and Richard, J. Gelles, ‘A profile of violence towards children: a national study’, Child Abuse & Neglect, 17 (1993), pp. 197–212
    Wolin, Sheldon, ‘Violence and the Western political tradition’, American Journal of Orthopsychiatry, 33 (1963), pp. 15–28
    Worcester, Kenton, et al., eds., Violence and Politics: Globalization's Paradox, New York 2002

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