Political Violence Essay

Submitted By hmsanchez
Words: 1286
Pages: 6

Political Violence Being a politician must be an exciting and at the same time terrifying experience. Having to manage time between work and family seems to be exhausting. Worst of all, politicians make the rules that keep our peace, how we are protected against riots, terrorism, and war, is planned out by the government in order to have an action plan ready in case something were to happen. Everything starts with a system; a way of making sure everyone knows what their role is in society. There is only one small problem with this notion, most systems, sooner or later are questioned and start to break down due to political malfunction and or instability. There are many factors into breaking down a system, a coup for instance which is when the military takes over to govern the land. Legitimacy disrupt is a main cause for governments to fall, as it is defined, legitimacy is rightful rule that should be obeyed, once this believe is broken; the coups start to take motion. There are symptoms in violence that give way to signs of how serious certain situations are riots, bombings and even political assassinations are not necessarily signs of revolution. In fact, when the military starts to take over is when there is a serious problem. The best action to take when there is domestic unrest is, to try to work with the people, and figure out how to solve the problem instead of making it worst, by trying to repress it or hide it from the general public, which just makes everything worse. A good example of domestic unrest was the 1968 Democratic convention in Chicago, where protesters against the Vietnam War were hurt by police, who also hurt passing by citizens. Not all domestic unrest is for the wrong reasons, in the 1960s the lack of attention paid by the government “to the plight of inner-city blacks” (Roskin 316), led to an all-out riot which ended in death and destruction. The events caught the eye of everyone, including the media and the government, who then realized changed, was needed and decided to improve dying cities across America. There are many types of violence in political science. Fred R. von der Mehden categorized five types violence. Primordial which is religious or tribal groups people are born into and grows out of conflict between said groups. Separatist are an outgrowth of primordial violence which “aims at independence for the group in question” (Roskin 317). Revolutionary is the third form of violence, this form “is aimed at overthrowing or replacing an existing regime” (Roskin 320). Coups usually aim “revolution, corruption and chaos” (Roskin 320). The last is Issues, which when the violence does not fit any of the five categories. One thing to know, each category is not unique to itself; a problem can start with a revolution and end up in a coup or vice-versa. All countries, even the most powerful are subject to violence. We live in a country where we are comfortable with the way things are, or at least that is what it seems like from the outside, yet, even a country such as this, can go through a hard time if it were to choose to go through changes. The way we live today is balanced, if a new government decides to try and force the country into a dictatorship, there would be public unrest, economies, lifestyles, and even religious believes will start to change. “Economic change can be the most unsettling” (Roskin 323). A country with a poor population that starts to see economic improvement can see a change in the people as this people will now have more aspirations and therefore will want more things than the better getting economy can provide. “Rebellion and revolution can break out” (Roskin 323). Depending on demand, farming can lead to revolution when the peasants have to pay for the land and other fees. An outdated system can be problematic “as the economy improves, educational levels rise” (Roskin), people learn more about laws and their rights, and this in term leads people to recent their