Books in the Rethinking Political Violence series

This book explores the potential for imagining a politics without violence and evidence that this need not be a utopian project. In addition, new sensibilities towards violence have generated social action on violence, turning this knowledge into practical impact.

This book helps to better understand how the interaction between local and international peacebuilding actors influences the outcomes of their programs.

This book is a critical comparative reflection of the post-colonial conflict Disarmament, Demobilization and Reintegration (DDR) of ex-combatants in Zimbabwe, Namibia and South Africa.

Counterinsurgency must be applied from the beginning, and ifdone properly can be highly effective, even when used by democratic regimes. are more pluralistic in natureand therefore enjoy higher levels of legitimacy than do autocracies,democracies may have considerable advantages in counterinsurgency warfare.

Policymakers and scholars alike have identified spoilers-violent actors who often rise up and attempt to challenge or derail the peace process-as one of the greatest threats to peace.

This book investigates the relationships between political violence, social violence and economic violence using examples from South Africa, Northern Ireland, Lebanon and Syria. It examines the cultural impact of war and argues that a culture of violence can explain the high levels of violence which are frequently found in post-war societies.

The increased targeting of civilians by militants raises serious and profound questions for policy-makers. Examining conflict in Northern Ireland, Israel and Palestine, this book focuses on ethno-nationalist militant groups and formulates a model to constrain violence against civilians.

Holmqvist presents an original account of the relationship between war and policing in the twenty first century. This interdisciplinary study of contemporary Western strategic thinking reveals how, why, and with what consequences, the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq became seen as policing wars.

Through a rigorous critique of the dominant narrative of the Rwandan genocide, Collins provides an alternative argument to the debate situating the killings within a historically-specific context and drawing out a dynamic interplay between national and international actors.

Sacred Violence and Religious Violence examines the place that ideology or political religion plays in legitimizing violence to bring about a purer world. In particular, the book examines Islamism and the western secular, liberal democratic responses to it.

The notion of counter-insurgency has become a dominant paradigm in American and British thinking about the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. This volume brings together international academics and practitioners to evaluate the broader theoretical and historical factors that underpin COIN, providing a critical reappraisal of counter-insurgency thinking.

This book provides a critical analysis of the reintegration challenges facing ex-combatants. Based on extensive field research, it includes detailed case studies of ex-combatant reintegration in Namibia, Mozambique, Sierra Leone, and Liberia.

How does ideology in some states radicalise to such an extent as to become genocidal? Can the causes of radicalisation be seen as internal or external? Examining the ideological evolution in the Armenian genocide, the Holocaust and during the break up of Yugoslavia, Elisabeth Hope Murray seeks to answer these questions in this comparative work.

This study investigates the role of youth in peacebuilding, and addresses the failure of states and existing research to recognise youths as political actors, which can result in their contribution to peacebuilding being ignored.

This book challenges the conventional wisdom that civil war inevitably stymies economic development and that 'civil war represents development in reverse'.

This book makes a timely contribution to the analysis of nationalism and terrorism, and also the absence of terrorism.

This book explores a critical question: in the wake of identity-based violence, what can internal and international peacebuilders do to help "deeply divided societies" rediscover a sense of living together?

This book makes a timely contribution to the analysis of nationalism and terrorism, and also the absence of terrorism.

This book challenges the conventional wisdom that civil war inevitably stymies economic development and that 'civil war represents development in reverse'.

This edited collection develops a gendered lens for genocide prevention by uncovering socially constructed gender roles which are crucial for the onset, form and prevention of genocide and mass atrocities.

This book investigates the ways in which the particular nature and character of the state can impact upon the effectiveness of counter-terrorism efforts, and on the trajectory of violent conflicts.

This book rigorously documents and explains the genocide perpetrated by the Guatemalan state against indigenous Maya populations within the context of its counterinsurgency campaign against leftist guerrillas between 1981 and 1983.

This book explores a critical question: in the wake of identity-based violence, what can internal and international peacebuilders do to help "deeply divided societies" rediscover a sense of living together?

This interdisciplinary volume aims to understand the linkages between the origins and aftermaths of genocide. Exploring social dynamics and human behaviour, this collection considers the interplay of various psychological, political, anthropological and historical factors at work in genocidal processes.

This interdisciplinary volume aims to understand the linkages between the origins and aftermaths of genocide. Exploring social dynamics and human behaviour, this collection considers the interplay of various psychological, political, anthropological and historical factors at work in genocidal processes.

Gender is not a 'security issue', but it tells us a lot about how, why and when certain subjects are written as security concerns. Thirteen case studies on violent subjects, reason, and emotion demonstrate different ways in which we understand political violence, security, resistance, power, and agency, and how we make sense of gender.

Considering an under-researched dimension of political violence, this interdisciplinary collection provides an extensive examination of terrorist victimisation. It explores how individual and public experiences of victimisation are constructed and how they are shaped by existing dynamics of violence.

This edited volume brings together a series of contributions exploring the socio-cultural and psychological representation of peace and conflict. It ventures into areas of the humanities and social sciences not typically foregrounded in Peace Studies, such psychology, sociology, media studies, cultural studies, history, and geography.