Ontology of Political Violence

8/11/2019 Ontology of Political Violence

1/21

The Ontology of "Political Violence": Action and Identity in Civil WarsAuthor(s): Stathis N. KalyvasSource: Perspectives on Politics, Vol. 1, No. 3 (Sep., 2003), pp. 475-494Published by: American Political Science AssociationStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/3688707.

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2/21

Articles

The

Ontology

f Political

iolence"

The

Ontology

f Politicaliolence":ction

and

dentity

nCivil

Wars

By

tathis

.

Kalyvas

I discusseveral

onceptualroblems

aised

y

urrent

nderstandings

f

olitical

iolence,

specially

s

they

ertain

o

ctions,

motivations,

nd dentities

n

ivil

ars. ctionson he

round"

ftenurnut

oberelatedo ocal nd

rivate

onflicts

ather

than hewar's

riving

or

master")

leavage.

he

disjunction

etween

ynamics

tthe

op

nd tthe ottomndermines

re-

vailingssumptions

bout

ivil

wars,

hichre nformed

y

wo

ompetingnterpretive

rames,

ost

ecently

escribed

s

"greed

nd

rievance."

atherhan

osit

dichotomy

etween

reed

nd

rievance,

point

o he

nteractionetween

olitical

and rivatedentitiesnd ctions.ivil arsre ot inaryonflicts,ut omplexnd mbiguousrocesseshat osterhe joint"

actionf

ocal nd

upralocal

ctors,ivilians,

nd

rmies,

hose

lliance

esults

nviolencehat

ggregates

et

till eflects

heir

diverse

oals.

t sthe

onvergence

f ocalmotivesnd

upralocal

mperatives

hat ndowsivil

ars ith heir

articular

nd

often

uzzling

haracter,

traddling

he ivide

etween

he

olitical

nd he

rivate,

he ollectivend he ndividual.

least

15

people

died

in

Afghanistan

hen

gunmen

attackednisolated

olice ost

near he

ountry'sapital,

Kabul,

n

August

002.The

dentity

f

he ttackersould

not

be ascertained.

he

chief f

police

here aid

that hemen

were

Taliban nd

supporters

f the terrorist

rganization

l-

Qaeda.

"Other ocal

ources," owever,

uggested

hat

hemen

were

hievesnd ooters

ooking

o

control

he

oad

or

evenue.1

This toryllustrateshe oor ualityf nformationn civilwars;

it also

uggests

hat

laims bout

dentity

nd ction

may

e self-

serving

nd nformation

ay

be

instrumentally

anipulated

y

variousctors. ess

bviously,

t

hints t

perception

nformed

y

rigid,

inary

ategories

inked o

mutually

xclusive otivations:

that

he ttackersouldhavebeen ither aliban r

thieves,

nd

their

motivationsould

have

been

ither

political"

if

hey

ere

Taliban)

r

private"

if

hey

ere

hieves).

ut he

unmen

ould

have

been

both

hievesnd

Taliban-simultaneously

r

sequen-

tially,

epending

n

the ontext.

ikewise,

heir

iolence

ould

have

beenboth

olitically

nd

privately

riven.

This

story

pitomizes

ome

f

the

problems

ith ur

current

understandingf ivilwars, articularlyur nterpretationf he

identitiesnd actions f

the

ctors,

long

with

heir

llegiances

and

motivations,

nd our take n

thewar's

iolence.

revailing

perceptions

re

nformed

y

two

ompeting

nterpretive

rames,

typically

uxtaposedichotomously-most

ecently

s

"greed

nd

grievance."'

he first

s

Hobbesian n

inspiration,

tressing

n

ontology

f ivilwars

haracterized

y

he

breakdown

f

uthor-

ity

nd

subsequent

narchy.

n

this

view,

which

an be

traced

Stathis .

Kalyvas

s

professor

fpolitical

cience t

Yale

University

([email protected]).

e is

currently

ompleting

manu-

script

ntitled he

Logic

of

Violence n Civil

War. The

author

thanksMattKocher nd Harris

Mylonas,

s well s

Jennifer

Hochschild

nd three

nonymous

eviewers,

or

their omments.

back o

Thucydides,

ivil

wars

ncourage

he

rivatization

fvio-

lence,

ringing

o the

ore,

n a

virtually

andom

ashion,

ll orts

of

motivations

n what s a "war f

all

against

ll."3

his thesis

informs

urrent

nderstandings

f

thnicivil

wars4

nd

o-called

"new

wars"

llegedly

otivated

y

greed

nd

loot.' The other

frame,

hich

we

may

all

Schmittian,

ntails

n

ontology

f ivil

wars

based

on abstract

roup

oyalties

nd

beliefs,

hereby

he

politicalnemy ecomes privatedversarynly yvirtuef a

prior

ollective nd

impersonalnmity.

he

impersonal

nd

abstract

nmity

hat

CarlSchmitt

hought

as

the

ssentialea-

ture f

politics6

choes

ousseau's

erception

f

war,

ot s "man

to

man"

but

as "state o

state."

ndividuals,

laimed

Rousseau,

were

nly

nemies

y

ccident,

ndthen

nly

s soldiers.7

n

con-

trast o the

Hobbesian

hesis,

hich

rioritizes

he

privatephere

at

the

xclusion

f the

political,

he

chmittian

ne

stresses

he

fundamentally

olitical

ature f civilwars nd their

ttendant

processes;

t nforms

nterpretations

f

raditional

ideological"

r

"revolutionary"

ivil

wars,8

s well

s

arguments

bout thnic ivil

wars

nd "intercommunaliolence" hat tress

trong

eliefs,

group nmity,nd culturalantipathy.9

Rather

han

osit

dichotomy

f

greed

nd

grievance,

point

to the

nteractionetween

olitical

nd

private

dentities

nd

actions.

begin

y

highlighting

simple, hough onsequential,

observation

hat

ppears

o be as

common s it s

theoretically

marginalized:

ivil

wars re

not

binary

onflicts

ut

omplex

nd

ambiguous rocesses

hat ostern

apparently

assive,

hough

variable,

ix

f dentities

nd ctions-to uch

degree

s

to be

defined

y

hatmix. ut

therwise,

he

widely

bserved

mbigu-

ity

s

fundamentalatherhan

ncidentalo

civil

wars,

matter

f

structureatherhan

noise.

trace he

heoreticalource f

this

observation

o

the

disjunction

etweendentitiesnd actions t

the entral

r elite

evel,

n the ne

hand,

nd

the ocal

or

mass

level,n the ther. his

disjunction

akeswo orms:irst,ctions

"on

he

round"

fteneemmore elatedo ocal

r

private

ssues

www.apsanet.org

75

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3/21

Articles The

Ontology

f

Politicaliolence"

than o thewar's

riving

or

"master")

leavage;

econd,

ndivid-

ual

and ocal

actors

ake

dvantage

f thewar o settle

ocal

or

private

onflicts

ften

earing

ittle

r

no relationo the

auses

f

thewaror the

goals

of

the

belligerents.

his

disjunction

hal-

lenges revailing

ssumptions

bout he ocusof

agency

n

civil

wars nd raises series f

questions:

What s the

explanatory

leverage

f

interpretationsocusing

xclusively

n the

master

cleavage?

What do labels and

identities

eally

mean on the

ground?

s

it

reasonable

o infer he distribution

f

ndividual

and

ocal

llegiances

irectly

rom he

master

leavage?

s it cor-

rect o

describe

nd

analyze

ll violence

n civil

wars s

"political

violence"?

These

uestions

orce s to rethinkhe

ole f

leavages

ncivil

wars nd

challenge

heneat

plit

etween

olitical

nd

private

violence.

n this

rticle,

point

o several

mplications

nd

out-

line

an alternative

icrofoundation

f

cleavage

ased on the

interaction

f

identitiesnd

actions

t the center

nd at

the

periphery.ctorseekingower t the enter seresourcesnd

symbols

o

lly

with

eripheral

ctors

ighting

ocal

onflicts,

hus

making

or

he

joint roduction"

f

ction.

his microfounda-

tion s

fully

onsistent

ith

he observed

isjunction

etween

center nd

periphery,

hich an

now

be

reconceptualized

s

an

interaction

etween arious

entral

nd

ocal ctors

ith istinct

identities,

otivations,

nd

nterests.

This

understanding

f ivilwars

n

part

omplements

xisting

ones

nd

n

part

ubverts

hem:

hile ivil

wars xhibit oth

ure

partisan

nd anomic

ehavior,

hey

lso containctions

hat

re

simultaneously

oth;

moreover,

he

mpirical

asis

fSchmittian

and Hobbesian

nterpretations

ay

ften

e an artifact

f

biased

and ncompleteata, s well soveraggregation.emphasizehe

pitfalls

f

overlooking

mportant

vidence

ust

because

t

s not

easily ystematized.

n

certain

esearch

ields,

hecollection

f

reliablend

ystematic

ata t

themass

evel s

extremely

ifficult,

if

not

mpossible;

ivilwars

re

mong

hemost bvious

ases

n

point.

he

requisite

nalytical

nd

empirical

isaggregationI?

s

impossible

ithout

he use

of

typically

nsystematized

ine-

grained

ata.

Ultimately,

he

pecification

f

concepts,

odels,

and

causal

mechanisms

ased

on

insights

erived

rom

his

empirical

vidence

ill

mprove

hetheoretical

nalysis

f

civil

wars nd

permit

nnovative

ests

hatwill

lso ssess

his

mpiri-

cal

basis.

Complexity

nd

Ambiguity

Civilwars

re

ypically

escribed

s

binary

onflicts,

lassified

nd

understood

n the

basis

fwhat s

perceived

o be their

verar-

ching

ssue imension

r

cleavage:

e thus

peak

f

deological,

ethnic,

eligious,

r

classwars.

ikewise,

e abel

political

ctors

in ethnic

ivilwars

s ethnic

ctors,

he iolence

f thnic

ars

s

ethnic

iolence,

nd

o

on. Yet

uch haracterization

urns

ut

to

be trickier

han

nticipated,

ecause

ivilwars

usually

ntail

perplexing

ombination

f

dentities

nd

actions.

Consider

he

following

escription

f

theAmerican

Warof

Independence

n South

Carolina:

There

ame with

he true

patriotshost ffalse riends

nd

plunderers.

ndthis

wastrue

of

both ides

n this

errible

truggle.

he

outlaw

Whig

ndthe

outlaw

ory,

r

rather

he

outlaws

who

were

retended

higs

and

Tories s the

ccasion

erved,

ere

aying

aste he

ountry

almost s much

s thosewho were

ighting

or

heone

side

or

the

other.""

Years

ater,

braham incoln

escribed

he

Civil

War n

theAmerican est

s

a

situation

n which

murders

or

old

grudges,

nd murdersor

elf, roceed

nder

ny

loak hat

willbest over or he

ccasion."l12

he Chinese ivilWarwas

often

ought

y

diverse

nd

shifting

oalitions f bandits

nd

local

militias;'3

or

long

time,

heCommunists

ere or

he

bandits

"only

one of several

possible

allies

or

temporary

patrons."14

n

Manchuria,

or

nstance,

twas

xtremely

ifficult

to differentiateetween

members

of

the

Anti-Japanese

Resistance

nd

bandits

ecause

moving

rom

ne

to

another as

very

ommon:

t is estimatedhat

140,000

of a total

00,000

resistance

embers ad

a bandit

ackground.

ommon rimi-

nals

were lsoused

xtensively

uring

he

Cultural

evolution.15

The

determinants

fviolence

n the

province

f

Antioquia

ur-

ing

theColombian

Violencia

ere farmore

omplex

han

ny

innate, navoidableifferencesetweenmonolithicroups f

Liberals nd

Conservatives-the

raditional

xplanation

or

a

Violencia--might

uggest";

n

fact,

the

point

of la

Violencia,

even

n

supposed

reas

f traditional

ettlement'

here

artisan

objectives

ere he

guiding

orce

ehind

rmed

nsurrection,

s

that t was multifacetednd

ambiguous,

hat

olitics

nd

eco-

nomic considerations

an

never

be

considered

s discrete

forces."

6

In

short,

mbiguity

s endemico civil

wars;17

his urns

heir

characterization

ntoa

quest

for n

ever-deeper

real"

nature,

presumably

idden

nderneath

isleading

acades-an

exercise

akin

to

uncovering

ussian olls.

Thus,

t

is

often

rgued

hat

religious ars rereallybout lass, r classwars rereallybout

ethnicity,

r ethnic

wars re

only

bout

greed

nd

ooting,

nd

so

on.18

he

difficulty

f

characterizing

ivil

wars

s a

conceptu-

al

problem

ather

han

ne of measurement.

f

anything,

he

more etailed

he

facts,

he

bigger

he

difficulty

n

establishing

the true"

motives

nd ssues

n the

ground,

s

Paul

Brass

has

nicely

hown

n the

ase

of thnic iots

n

ndia.19

n

alternative

is to

recognize,

nstead,

hat he

motives

nderlying

ction

n

civilwar are

nherently

omplex

nd

ambiguous.

t the

same

time,

ust

o

state

his

oint

s

as

unsatisfactory

s

to

gnore

t. t

is

necessary,

nstead,

o theorize

hismore

omplex

nderstand-

ing

of

civilwars o

as to

ncorporate

t

nto

ystematic

esearch.

Doing orequires,irst,he dentificationf he ource f mbi-

guity,

hich urns

ut

to

be

located

n the

nteractionetween

center

nd

periphery.

The

Disjunction

etween

Center

nd

Periphery

Like n

many

ther

laces,

he

ccupation

fthe

Philippines

y

the

Japanese

uring

he Second

World

War

generated

oth

resistance

ovement

nd civil

war,

s some

ilipinos

ided

with

the

Japanese.

n his research

n

the

Western

isayas,

lfred

McCoy

found hat

lthough

he

ountry

nderwent

uccessive

radical

olitical

hanges

etween 941

and

1946

(including

U.S. Commonwealth

democracy,

Japanese

Military

Administration,nd national

ndependence),

rovincial

nd

municipal olitical

eaders

ept ighting

he ame

parochial

ac-

476

September

003 1

Vol.1/No.



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5/21

Articles The

Ontology

f

Politicaliolence"

Loire,

federalism"as

brought

n

from he

outside,

y

groups

f

armedmen

riding

n

from

yon.

ut he

xperience

f

"federalism,"

and

the

ubsequentepression

irected

gainst

hosewhohadcollab-

oratedwith

t,

nabled ne

power roup-of

lmost

xactly

he ame

social

tanding

nd wealth-to ust nother

n

those owns hat ad

beenmost ffectedy he risisemphasis ine].22

Cobb is

echoed

by

David

Stoll,

writing

bout

a

very

different

time nd

place,contemporary

uatemala:

When

utsiders

ook t

xil

country,hey

end o see t n terms f

titanic

olitical

truggle

etween eft nd

Right.

But for

most

Nebajefios,

hese re

ategories

mposed

y

xternalorcesn a situa-

tion

hey

erceive

ather

ifferently.

lass and

ethnic

ivisionshat

seem bvious

o

outsiders

re,

or

Nebajefios,

rosscut

yfamily

nd

community

ies. Because of theirwealth of local

knowledge,

Nebajefios

re

ntimately

ware

fthe

pacity

nd confusion

f

ocal

politics,

armore

o

than

nterpreters

rom

far....

What

eem

lear

consequences

f

national nd

nternational

evelopments

o cosmo-

politan

bservers

re,

or ocal

people,

rapped

n llthe

mbiguity

f

local ife.23

The

recent

ournalistic

iscovery

hat

Afghanistan

s

"a world

where ocal rivalries

nd

global

aims seem

to feed

off

ach

other"

and where

politics

re

ntensely

ocal,

with

many

warlords

wap-

ping

sides

n alliances

of convenience

hathave

shiftedwith the

changing

fortunes

f

the

22

years

of war that

began

with the

Soviet nvasion

n

1979,"24

is but the atest

nstance f a

recurring

pattern.

onsider

the

following

necdotal

evidence

from wide

variety

f

civil

wars.

Roger

Howell

stresses

the

persistence

f local structuresnd

rivalries" uringthe EnglishCivil War, "even in the face of

intense

ressures

rom

utside,

persistence

hat s

frequently

is-

guised

at first

lance

because

of

the

patterns

y

which

the abels

of the national'

struggle-royalist

ersus

parliamentarian,

res-

byterian

ersus

ndependent-were

taken

up

by

the

participants

themselves

nd

super-imposed

on the

'local'

struggle."25

detailed

study

of

Bergen

County,

New

Jersey, uring

the

AmericanRevolution

hows "that

the local and

bloody

battles

between

ebel nd

Loyal

militia

were

related o

prewar

nimosi-

ties between

ethnic

groups,

political

rivals, hurches,

nd

even

neighbors."26

he "ferocious"

ivil

war

waged

n North Carolina

during

the

American

Revolution

"involved

complexities

ften

distantfrom hestruggle etweenGreatBritain nd thecourt-

houseand statehouse

evolutionaries."27

he same was

true,

ater

on,

in the

context

of theAmerican

Civil

War. In

May

1862,

Major

General

John

M. Schofield

rgued

hat thebitter

eeling

existing

etween

he border

eople"

was "the

result f

old

feuds,

and

involves

ery

ittle,

f at

all,

the

question

of Union

or dis-

union."28

oger

Gould

shows

hatmuch

of theconflict

hat ook

place

in Parisbetween

1848 and

1872

was

related o turf

attles

between

neighborhoods

ather han

being

reflectionf theclass

struggle

hat s used

to describe

rench

politics

during

his

peri-

od.29Local

conflicts

ften

rumped

deological

nes,

writes

H. R.

Kedward n his

study

f the civilwar n

occupied

France,

uring

the Second

World

War.30

n his reconstruction

f the violent

political

battles

waged

in the

region

of western

Segovia,

in

Nicaragua,during

he ate

1920s,

Michael

Schroeder

oundthat

they

had

long

genealogies,

nd

were

deeply

nstitutionalisedt

the

ocal evel

....

[They]

emerged

rom

he

contingent

ntersec-

tion of

ethnic,

illage-level, egional,

nd national-level

olitical

struggles....

[T]he

violence

expressed

many

ongoing struggles

within

Segovian

ociety,

micro-universef conflict-ridden

ela-

tions,

developed

overtime,

mong

and between amilies, ouse-

holds,

parties,

ommunities,

atrons

nd

clients,

nd

various

ay-

ers of the state.

n

this

light,perhaps

the most

striking hing

about this violence s its

utterly

omegrown,

ocal character."31

Similar

dynamics

merged

ater

on,

during

the

Sandinista

nd

Contra civilwars. Policemen

n

Quilali,

Nicaragua,

were

basical-

ly

the

armed

ollowing

f

the

Talavera

lan,

whoseturf his

was,"

Paul Berman

reports,

dding

thatclan

politics

was "an embodi-

ment of

every

rural

Nicaraguan

event

that never did

get

ade-

quatelyreported

o the outsideworld

n

the

years

ollowing

he

Sandinista

evolution."32

A

study

f a northern

panish

ownfound hat

he main cleav-

age in its central eighborhood egan n theearly 930s as a dis-

pute

between wo doctors

ompeting

or he

title f official own

doctor,

which ntailed

lucrative

state-guaranteed

ractice.

Many

families ecame

engaged

on

the side

of

one

doctoror

the

other:

"Simultaneously,

he

political

urmoil f the

end of the

Republic

added a wider

political

dimension

o what was

in

essence

dis-

pute

based on local ssues.

he

tug-of-war

s often escribed

oday

in

terms f the iberal-conservative

ssues of the

time,

but

most

informants

gree

hat he basic issues

were ocal

and

personal."33

Clan

rivalriesn Chinese

villages

haped peasant

decisions

bout

whether o side withor

against

he Communists

uring

he civil

war there. eter

eybolt's

nalysis

f theChineseCivil War

during

theJapanese ccupationuncovers similar isjunction etween

center

nd

periphery:

Many

of

thebattles

ought mong

Chinese

had

little o do

with ollaboration r resistance.

hey

were

trug-

gles

for

power

and economic

spoils

that

pit

central uthorities

against

ocal

authorities;

ocal

authorities

gainst

ach

other,

an-

dits

gainst

merchantsnd

landlords,

ecret ocieties

gainst

an-

dits,

Guomindang

members

against

Communists,

nd so

on."34

During

the Colombian

Violencia,

he

"eliminationf members f

the

opposition

rom

articular

amlets...

appears

ohave

obeyed

the

ogic

of

personal

euds,

artisan

ifferences,

nd

intermunici-

pal

rivalries."

report

y

the

nvoy

f the Conservative

overnor

of

Antioquia

n the town

of

Cafiasgordas

evealed

a

sordid,

or-

rupt,divided, nd violent ociety ivenby factionalism,amily

feuds,

ocal

animosities,

ersonal

ealousies,

indictiveness,

reed,

conflicts

between

haves and

have-nots,

and

struggles

over

power."35

he mass

killings

that

took

place

in Indonesia

in

1965-1966

were

ostensibly

rticulated

round

the commu-

nism/anticommunism

leavage,yet

a sustained

xamination

f

regional

massacres

unearthed

ll kinds

of local conflicts.

or

instance,

n the outhern

umatra

rovince

f

Lampung,

he

vio-

lencewas caused

by

conflict etween

ocal

Muslims nd

Javanese

transmigrant

ettlers.

n some areas of

Timor,

the victims

were

Protestants,

hile

n others

hey

were

followers

f ocal

cults;

n

Lombok

they

wereBalinese

nd Chinese.

The

killings

n Central

and

East

Java

were caused

by hostility

etween

ocal

Muslim

cultural-religiousroups nown s abangan; n Balitheywere sso-

ciated

with

ong-standing

ivalries

etween

atronage roups.36

n

478

September

003

I

Vol.1/No.



6/21

a visit o the Lebanese

ountryside,

he travelwriter

William

Dalrymple

as

urprised

o discoverhat

bloody

aid

y

Samir

Geagea's

Christian)

halangist

ilitia

gainst

he

headquarters

f

the

likewise

hristian)

aradamilitia

ed

byTony ranjieh

as

only

stensibly

struggle

bout

political

ssues

the

Phalangists

preferringebanon'sartitionndtheFranjiehsishingokeep

it

whole):

In fact

it]

had ts rue oots

n

something

ore

rim-

itive till:

century-old

lood

feud

between

sharre,

eagea's

home

town,

nd

Ehden

nd

Zgharta,

he

Franjieh

trongholds

forty

iles

o thewest."

alrymple

eaches

he

onclusionhat

"the

tory

f

the

raidwas

remarkable,

nd

revealed ore

learly

than

nything

he

medieval eudal

eality

ehind he civilized

twentieth-century

eneer f Lebanese

olitics."37

hen old

by

the

rmy

o make

n

example

f he ocal

subversives,"

hemili-

tia eader

n the

Guatemalan

amlet f Emol

Central

hosehis

victims rom

Kotoh,

Emol Central's

raditional

ivals."38

he

1983

massacre f

ournalists

y

the nhabitantsf

Uchuraccay,

Peru,ed to an extensivenvestigationhat ventuallyracedhe

massacreo the

nimosity

etween

ighlanders

nd

owlanders;

the

owlands ere asier

or

endero uminoso ebelso

penetrate

because

hey

ere

eographically

ore ccessible.

nce,however,

Sendero ecame

ssociated

ith he

owland

ommunities,

t

sparked

he

nmity

f he

highland

nes-an

enmity

hat

nthro-

pologists

ad

lready

raced o

a

long

raditionf

rivalry

etween

highland

nd owland ommunities.

9The

iberianivilwar ur-

ing

he

1990s

riggered

ens f

ocal

leavages:

It s

said hat

n some

reas hewar

n

the outh-east

eopened

ld

feuds

ating

ack othe

930s.

ertainly

tmilitarizedhe actional

disputes

hich

ad

previously

een he

tufff ocal

olitics,

nd

whichinkedocal

truggles

onationalnterests.s hewartself

ave

rise

o ocal

endettas,

r

solder

ntagonisms

ereettled

y

orcet

a

time f

war,

here

mergedmicro-politics

f

war

n

which

ertain

territoriesufferedorehan

therst

particular

oments.

he

reas

worstffected

ere hose hich ere

evastated

epeatedly

s ocal

rivalsaunchedee-saw

aids

nd

ounter-attacks

gainst

ne nother.40

The

reason

hat

oposa

tribesmen

ccepted

weapons

rom he

Sudanese

overnment

o

fightgainst

heir ormerinka nsur-

gent

omradesn

southernudan s to be

found

n

old

disputes

and

cattle

hievingmong

he two

groups.41

ost

recently

n

Congo,

analysts

istinguish

etween

he

big

war,

hemain on-

flictetweenheCongolese overnmentndthe ebelrmiesry-

ing

to

topple

t,

and the

many

maller ars

beingwageddeep

inside

ongo'sungles."

s one

nalystut

t: Thenational

evel

and the ocal

evel re wo

different

hings

n

Congo."42

All in

all,

the salience

f local

cleavages

s

ubiquitous

n

ground-level

escriptions

f ivil

war nd holds or

ocietieshat

are

harplyolarized

n terms f

class,43

eligion,44

nd ethnici-

ty.45

t wouldnot

be

an

exaggeration

o

say

hat eferenceso the

disjunction

etween enter

nd

periphery

re

present

n

almost

every

escriptive

ccount.46

This

disjunction

s

consistent ith

heobservationhat ivil

wars re weltersf

omplex

truggles"'47

ather

han

imple

ina-

ry

onflicts

eatlyrrayed

long

single

ssue imension.n this

sense, ivilwars anbe understoods processeshat rovide

medium or

variety

f

grievances

o be

realizedwithin he

greater

onflict,

articularly

hrough

iolence. s

Colin

Lucas

notes

bout

he

ounterrevolutionn southern

rance,

he

revo-

lutionary

truggle

rovided

language

or ther onflicts

f

a

social, ommunal,

r

personal

ature.48

An

understanding

f ivil

war

ynamics

s

substantially

haped

by ocal leavagess alsofullyonsistentith ecurringuggestions

thatmaster

leavages

ften

ail o account or henature f

the

conflictnd ts

iolence49

nd that iolences either nrelated

r

incompletely

elated

o

thedominantiscoursef he

war;50

hat

civilwars re

mperfect

nd fluid

ggregations

f

multiple,

ore

or less

overlapping,

maller, iverse,

nd localized ivil

wars,51

entailing

yzantine

omplexity52

nd

splintering

uthority

nto

"thousands

f

fragments

nd

micro-powers

f ocal

haracter."53

This evidence

ibes

with he

nthropologicalnsight

hat ocal

politics

s not

ust

or

primarily)

he ocalreflection

f

national

politics.

n his

analysis

f ocal

politics

n Sri

Lanka,

onathan

Spencer

hows

hat

villagers

id not

imply

ave

politics

hrust

uponthem; atherheyppropriatedoliticsnd used hem or

their

wn

purposes."

e addsthat

people

were

not

necessarily

enemies

ecause

hey

were

n

different

arties;

more

ften

hey

had

ended

up

in

different

arties

ecause

hey

were nemies."

Hence,

he

points

ut,

at east

art

f the

pparent

deological

and

sociological

ncoherencef

political arty

llegiance"

an be

tracedo the act

hat

olitics

rovides

means f

xpressing

ocal

conflicts:

It s

possible

o ee

greatart

f

village

olitics

s ittle ore han

the

ressingp

ofdomestic

isputes

n he

rappings

f

partyoliti-

cal

competition,

xploiting

he

ublic xpectation

f rouble hich

accompaniesarty

olitics

n

order o

settle

rivate

cores

n

the

idiom fpublicffairs.artyoliticsre stablishedofirmlynSri

Lanka,

n

part

ecause

f heirlective

ffinity

ith hose

ividedr

dividing

ommunitieshich

therwiseack

n

everyday

diom

n

whicho

haracterizeheirwn

isunity:

oliticsrovide

ust

uch

n

idiom.54

While

ocal

cleavages

re

by

no

means he

only

mechanism

producing

llegiance

nd

violence,

hey

ppear

o

have ubstan-

tial

mpact

n

the

distributionf

llegiances

s well

s the on-

tent, irection,

nd

ntensity

f iolence.

his

videnceends

up-

port

o the

view hat oth he

distributionf

allegiances

cross

the

opulation

nd he

iolence

hat akes

lace

re ften

though

notalways) functionfpreexistingocalrivalries hose on-

nection o the

cleavage

hat nforms he

civilwar s tenuous nd

loose-even when

onflictsre framedn

thediscursiveermi-

nology

f themaster

leavage.

f

course,

vidence an

only

e

anecdotal

ince,

or bvious

easons,

e ack

ystematic

tudies f

the

dynamics

f ivilwars t

the ocal

evel,

s well s

measuresf

local

leavages.55

eaving

side he

ften

uestionable

uality

f

aggregate

macro)

ataon civil

wars,

t

s worth

oting

hat he

available

vidences

particularly

triking

nd deservesttention

sincemacro-leveltudies

ave

onsistently

verlookedndmisin-

terpreted

hese

ynamics.

lthough

t

s

mpossible

o

ascertaint

this

oint

he elative

eight

f

ocal

leavages

ithin

nd across

wars,

t s

necessary

o

acknowledge

he

ignificance

fthis

he-

nomenon;his hould

park

research

rogram

eading

o a

rig-

orous

mpirical

tatementbout ts

revalence.

ne

obvious

ath

www.apsanet.org

79



7/21

Articles

The

Ontology

f

Political

iolence"

is to

incorporate

hese

nsights

xplicitly

nto

deductive odels

whose

redictions

an then e

independently

nd

systematically

tested ith

ine-grained

ata.56

Althoughubiquitous

n the

descriptive

iterature,

hese

dynamics

ave

beenoverlooked

y

macro-leveltudies

f civil

wars,both

descriptive

nd theoretical-with

ery

ew

xcep-

tions.57

nstead,

most ccounts

nferocal nd

ndividual

denti-

ties nd actions

irectly

rom

he

war's

master

leavage.

ocal

cleavages

re

neglected

or number

freasons. irst

s a

division

of

abor

eparating

he asks f

collecting

vidence t themicro

level nd

interpreting

acro-dynamics;

econd

s an

epistemic

preference

or he universalver

he

particular,

nd

the

easily

codable

ver

messy

vidence;

hird

s the

mbiguity

f ocal-level

dynamics,

hich

n some

ways arallels

hedistinctionetween

"objective"

tructures

nd

"subjective"

ctions;58

ourth

s the

fact hat ocal

cleavages

re

typically

rticulated

nthe

anguage

of

the

war'smaster

leavage,

ften

nstrumentally.

o

give

a

recentxample,ocalfactionsnAfghanistanccused neanoth-

er

of

being

aliban

r

al-Qaeda

o as

to haverivals ombed

y

the U.S.

Air Force.

9

As a

result, aive

bserversnd

partici-

pants,

ncluding

he

principals,

end

to miscode ocal cleav-

ages.60

Overall,

cademic

tudies

ften harewith "official"

historiographies

he

tendency

o

erase

roubling

nternal ivi-

sions-"class

issures,

cts f

reachery,

r

peasant

nitiatives

hat

were

ndependent

f

elite ontrol"-and

o smooth ver

the

past's

agged dges."6''

At

he

ame

ime,

esearchers

ho re

ttuned

othe

rass

oots

(anthropologists,

ournalists,

icro-oriented

istorians)

eport

these

ynamics

ut

fail o theorize

hem.

starting

oint

n

the

directionf heorizingsto ketchfew road istinctions.ocal

cleavages

ay

e

preexisting

rwar

nduced;

heymay

lign

eat-

ly

with entral

leavages

r subvert

hem;

nd

they

may

e con-

sistentver

ime r

more luid

nd

random.

With

preexisting

ocal

cleavages,

ar

ctivateshe

fault

ines.

When

prewar

ocal

cleavages

ave

lready

een

politicized

nd

grafted

nto henational

tructure

f

cleavages,

heir

utonomy

and

visibility

ua

local

cleavages

s

diminished;

ven

hen,

ow-

ever,

hemaster

leavage

may

not rase

hem.

o

understand

io-

lence,

nehas

o take nto ccount

ocal

leavages,

s

suggested

y

the

ollowing

escription

fEastTennessee

uring

heAmerican

CivilWar:

The

policy

f

ranting

xtensive

owers

o

native nionists

nd

mak-

ing

hem

artners

n he

ccupation

f ast ennessee

imedt

restor-

ing

loyal

overnment

s

quickly

s

possible.

ut hat

olicy,

om-

bined

ith

ncreasingly

arshederal

olicies,

arriederious

isks.

t

provided

urther

pportunities

or nionists

o ake

evenge

n

eces-

sionists,

nd

t

ncouraged,

atherhan

onstrained,

artisan

iolence

and isorder.

nionists

ad heirwn

genda,

n

genda

hat idnot

always

esh

ith ederal

ims,

nd his ifference

requently

reated

complications

or heUnion

ommand.62

In

themost xtreme

ases,

ocal

leavages

ay

ose ll

autonomy

and turn

ntomere

ocal manifestations

f the

entral

leavage.

Conversely,

central

leavage

ay

ranch ut

nto ocal

leavages

that emain ctive ven fterhe entral

leavage

as died.This

seems o

havebeen

he ase

n

Colombia,

where

he

deological

cleavage

f

Liberalsnd

Conservatives

pawned

esidential

egre-

gation

nd

ntermarriage

atterns.63

Often,

ocal

cleavages

re

preexisting

ithout

eing

grafted

ontothe

master

leavage-which

ncreasesheir

isibility.

hus,

the

conflict

between

Royalists

nd

Parliamentarians

n

Leicestershire

uring

he

English

ivilWarwasalsoa conflict

between

he

Hastings

nd

the

Grey

amilieshat went ack

o

personal

euds

f

far

onger

tanding

han heCivil

War,

n fact o

their

ivalry

or he ontrolf he

ountry

ince

hemid-sixteenth

century.

or

these

wo

families,

heRebellion

as,

t one

evel,

simply

further

tage

n

the

ong

drawn-out attle

or ocal

dominion.""64he

Protestant-Catholiciolence

hat

rupted

n

southeasternrance

uring

he

rench evolution

asnot

imply

religious;

t

pitted gainst

ach other

articular

amilies

ith

track ecord

f

past euding:

he anteiris

gainst

he

abastine

n

Chamborigaud,

heBossier

gainst

he

Roux

n

Vauvert,

nd

the

Roussel

gainst

heDevaulxn

Bagnols.65

ikewise,

family

nd

faction ictatedhecourse f the RA split n units ll over

Ireland"

uring

he ivilwar. Once

again,

t

was

theBrennans

against

he Barretts

n

Clare,

the

Hanniganitesgainst

he

Manahanitesn

east

Limerick,

nd

the

Sweeneys

ersus he

O'Donnells

n

Donegal

s all the

ld

feuds ere

reignited.""66

he

Liberal-Conservativelash

n

Colombia

frequently

rew

ut of

long-standing

amily

euds. iberal

rregos,

or

nstance,

oined

Franco,

hile heir

ong-time

nemies,

heCossios nd

Montoya

Montoyas

rom

aicedo,

made

up

theranks fthe

police

nd

Conservative

ontrachusma

bands]

in

nearbytowns.,"67

Journalists

ften ncounter

imilar

atterns:

he

warbetweenhe

pro-Iraqi

urd

ash

militia

nd Kurdish

ebels

as lso conflict

betweenhe ourchi ndtheBarzani amilies;68n the ther ide

of

he

order,

neastern

urkey,

he

war

etween

thnic urds

nd

the

Turkish

tate

n

the

village

f

Ugrak

was also between he

Guclu

ndthe

anguner

ndTekin

amilies,

oth

Kurdish.69

War

may

enerate

ew ocal

leavages

ecause

ower

hifts

t

the

ocal evel

upset

elicate

rrangements.

fter

hining

ath

rebels

ppointed

ew

illage

eaders,

the

uerrilla

olumn

ould

leave,

without

ealizing

hat

t

had

eft ehind

hornet's

est f

contradictions

hat

ould

not

be

resolved.

ven

f

n

these

ases

no overt

ebellion

ook

lace,

he

mposition

f

henew uthori-

ties

enerated

nitial esentments

nd

he irst

easant

llies

f he

armed

orces,

informers'

soplones)

n

the enderista

erminolo-

gy.70n the entral eruvianalleyfCanipaco,hepopulation

enjoyed

"kind

f

honeymoon"

ith

hining

ath

ntil

dispute

erupted

etween

wo

ommunitiesver he

distribution

f ands

previously

surped y

haciendas:

The

participation

f rmed

hining

ath adres

nthe ide f

ne f

the

ommunities

n massiveonfrontation

gainst

confederation

of ivalommunities

rovokedrupture

ith

he

atter,

ho

ecided

to

urn ver wo

enderistaadres

hey

ad

aptured

n he cuffle

o

the

uthorities

n

Huancayo.

his ction

rovoked

hining

ath

reprisals,

hichulminated

n

he

xecution

f hirteen

easant

ead-

ers. hevictims

ere

idnapped

romheir

ommunitiesnd

ssassi-

nated n the entral

laza

of

Chongos

lto.71

One ofthemost

otent leavagesroduced

ycivilwars sgen-

erational:ebels

but

lso

ncumbents)

ften ecruit

oung

eople

480

September

003

I

Vol.

1/No.



8/21

who then

roceed

o

repress

heir

illage's

lders. he war

may

also ower

he

ostof

opportunistic

ehavior,

riggering

ens

f

local

leavages.

When ocal

cleavages

ubvertentral

nes,

factional

onflicts

emerge

within

upposedly

nified

olitical amps. McCoy

describes ow two factionsn Western isayas, hilippines,

became

plit

ather

venly

etweenheresistancend

collabora-

tion

regimes uring

he

Japaneseccupation.

owever,

uring

the

war,

membersf

the ame

political

actionn

opposite

ides

cooperatedlosely

ith

ach

other,

hile

members

f

opposite

factions,

ithin he

resistance

nd

the

Japanese-sponsored

ov-

ernment,

espectively,

ought

itterly

gainst

ach other.72

Similarly,

arlosRafael

Cabarrtis

hows

hat n some

f

he

ural

communities

e

tudiedn El

Salvador,

in-based

onflictsaused

important

ivisions ithin

olitical

actions.73

An

exclusive ocus n

cleavages

both

ocal

and

nonlocal)

would ail

o ccount or

ariationn evels

f

victimization.ocal

cleavages ay ecompatibleothwithnescalationfviolence,

as

competing

actions

ry

o

gain

dvantage,

nd

with

modera-

tion,

s

they

ave

hemeans

o strike

ocal

deals,

may

nticipate

future

ooperation,

nd

can

resorto

effective

n-group

olicing

in

order

o

prevent

ecentralized

scalation.74

ccounting

or

io-

lence

equires

hat ocal

dynamics

e

embedded

n an

analysis

f

war

dynamics,

specially

he

ogic

f

erritorial

control.75

In

sum,

xamining

ocal

leavages

pens

p

fascinating

mpir-

ical

possibilities

or

exploring

he

various

aths,

rajectories,

modalities,

nd

combinationsf central

nd

ocal

cleavages,

s

well stheir

onsequences.

esearch

n

clientelism,76

etworks,77

and ocal

factionalism78

onstitutes

n

obvious

esource

n

this

respect.

Theoretical

mplications

It

may

e

possible

o

overlook

ynamics

t themicro

evel

f

he

goal

s to

attain

historical

nterpretation

f the

onflict

t

the

macroevel

nd

the

ongue

urde.

he

fact hatmuch

iolence

n

Missouri

uring

he

American

ivilWar

was

related

o

ocal

on-

flicts

ather

han he

ssue

f

lavery79

ndercutshe

broad

ines

of

standard

macro-level

nterpretations

f the

American

ivil

War

nly

n

part-while

lso

ausing

loss f

descriptive

ccura-

cy.

However,

nalysis

f

he

dynamics

f

ivil

war

how

nd

why

people oin

or

defect,

ow

violence

akes

place,

et

cetera)

s

impossible

n the

bsence f

close

ttention

o local

dynamics.

Such

ttentions

also

necessary

or

chieving

closer

it etween

macro-

nd micro-level

heory"8

nd

nterpreting

ross-national

findings

bout

key

ariables,

uch s the

nset,

uration,

nd ter-

minationfcivil

wars. or

nstance,

ne

of

themost

obust

re-

dictors

f ivil

war

nset,

er

apita

ross

omestic

roduct,

ay

capture

n

part

he ffectf

ocal

leavages;81

oor,

onmodern-

ized

states ave

failed o

penetrate

heir

eriphery

ffectively,

which

wouldhave

reduced

he alience

f ocal

cleavages82

nd

thus

reated

pportunities

or

ebels o

tap

nto

hem.

Several

heoretical

mplications

ollow

rom

n

understanding

of

ivil

wars

nformed

y

he

ynamics

f

ocal

leavages.dentity

labels

hould e

handled ith

aution:

ctorsn civil

war

annot

betreateds f hey ere nitary.abels oined t the entermay

be

misleading

hen

generalized

own o

the

ocal

evel;hence,

motivations

annot

e derived rom dentities

t the

top.

The

interchangeability

f individuals

hatunderlies

he

concept

f

group

onflict

ndviolences variable

atherhan onstant.

he

locus

f

agency

s as

likely

o be

at thebottoms at the

op,

o

civiliansannot

e treated

s

passive,

manipulated,

r

invisible

actors;ndeed,heyftenmanipulateentralctorso settleheir

own

onflicts.

The

analytical

rimacyresently

njoyed

y

master

leavages

implies

hat

ocal

dynamics

re

perceived

s

a mere

and

rather

irrelevant)

ocalmanifestation

f he entral

leavage-automatic

and

unproblematic

ftereffects

f ctions nddecisions

ocated

t

higher

evels.

n this

erspective,

ocal ctors an

only

e

replicas

of entral

ctors,

nd

their

tudy

s

ustified

olely

n

grounds

f

local

history

r

antiquarian

nterest.

t follows

hat t s

unprob-

lematic o

generalizeirectly

rom he enter

o the ocal

evel;

n

other

words,

ctors

e.g.,

Serbs)

re

unitary,

nd motives

e.g.,

ethnic

omination)

oldfor ll ndividual

embers

nd

ctions,

including iolence. hus,we speakof actors uch as Shias,

Albanians,

r workers

ollowingescriptions

f civil

wars

long

the

modular"

hemes

f

religion,

thnicity,

r class. hese

abels

arenot

neutral;

hey

ypicallymply theory

fcausation.

ivil

wars

and

their

iolence)

re assumed

o be

directly

aused

by

religious,

thnic,

r class

leavages.

However,

he

disjunction

etween

entral

nd ocal

leavages

challenges

he

validity

f uch abels.

Although

aster

leavages

inform

nd motivateocal

dynamics

o a

varying egree,

he

observed

isjunction

etween he

two raises ritical

uestions

about he

dynamics

f civil

war nd tsviolence.

ikewise,

he

pronounced

endency

o infer

motivations

irectly

rom

denti-

ties t the enters undermined.iolence n an ethnic rclass

war

may

otbe ethnicrclass iolence.

or

nstance,

toll

hows

how

the firstxil

ndianswho

collaborated ith

he

rebels

n

Guatemala

were ot

mpoverished

easonal

lantation

aborers,

as

[rebel]

trategists

eem

o have

expected.

nstead,

hey

were

prominent

en from an

Juan

Cotzal,

relatively

ell-situated

merchants

nd abor

ontractors,

howished o enlist

he

guer-

rillasn

the itter

olitical

euds f

heir

own."

onversely,

heir

localenemies

whohad

disgraced

hemselvesn

office

nd

were

being

efeated

n

electionsould

now

denounce

heir

pponents

to the

rmy."83

The

concept

f

group

onflict

r

group

iolence

and,

hence,

ethniconflictnd ethnic iolence,ndso on) entailshe otal

interchangeability

f

ndividuals,

ither s

participants

nd

per-

petrators

r s

targets.

Group

onflict" akes

ense

nly

f

roup

membersre

fully

ubstitutableor ach

ther.84

f

argets

fvio-

lence re

selected

long

ines

hat

o beyond

roup

ttributes,

then he

violence annot e

describeds

simply

thnic,

lass-

based,

t

cetera. ne

indicationhat

his

may

e

the ase

s the

highly

ntimate

ature f

nteraction,

articularly

s

expressed

n

violence:

The

East

yrone

rigade

of

he

RA]

were ot

n

rmy

ut

band,

a

company

f

latter-day

oodkernes,

f

ordinary

armworkers,

mechanics,

ractor

rivers,

he

nemployed,

he

dd

chool-teacher,

inheritorsf he

ispossession,ho atheredogetherokill articu-

lar

knownnemies

ike

Edward

ibson,

homas

Jameson

nd

Harry

Henry.

he IRA

were ot

waging

warbut

sporadic

ssassination

www.apsanet.org

81



9/21

Articles

I

The

Ontology

f Political

iolence"

campaign

n the

iny

ural ommunitiesf

Tyrone

o

attack he

enemy

n

heir

idst

emphasisine].85

Though

lass nformed

olitics

n

revolutionary

merica,

heres

a consensus

mong

istorians

hat lass

ensionsannot

xplain

the extensiveariationsn levelsof internecineiolence n

Virginia

ndtheCarolinas.86he

same

ppears

o have een

rue

in

Nicaragua:

There

were

poor

peasants

who

ran

to tell the

Guardwhen

hey

aw he

andinistas,

nd

here ere

membersf

wealthy

rban

amilies

ho desertedhe

guerrillas

nd told he

authorities

verything

hey

new

bout

heir

ormer

omrades."87

In some areas

of

predominantly

roatian

ural

Herzegovina,

much violence

uring

he

1990s

was an

outgrowth

f local

vendettas.88

he violence etween he

neighboringillages

f

Coagh

nd

Ardboe,

n Northern

reland,

hich ost he ives f

30

men

n

the

pace

of three

ears

n the ate

1980s

nd

early

1990s

for

combined

opulation

f

ust

over thousand

eo-

ple),

was not

simply

violence

between he Catholic rish

Republican

rmy

nd

the

Protestant

lster olunteer

orce,

ut

also a "bitter endetta"nd

the freshest

ycle

f a

blood feud"

that

pitted

hese

articular

wo

villages

gainst

ach

other.

n

other

words,

he nature

f theviolence

n

this rea cannot e

understood

y

simple

reference

o the

religious

leavage

n

Northernreland ut

equires

nowledge

bout

he ocal

leavage

between

oagh

nd

Ardboe.89

Likewise or

ndividuals.

ften,

hemaster

leavage

stablishes

a

baseline hat

etermines

hat

he elevant

roups

re.

However,

the

ssumption

f

noninterchangeability

f ndividuals

s

violated

with he ntroduction

f

secondary

electionriterionased

n

individual

haracteristics

nrelated

o

group

dentity.

otives

vary,

ut

grudge

nd oot

ppear

o

prevail.ntergroup

ictimiza-

tion

purred

y

ooting mong

eighbors

s common.90

ecause

the class

cleavage

defined

he

relevant

roup

dentities

n

Republican

arcelona

uring

he

Spanish

ivil

War,

oncierges,

maids,

nd

other omestic

ersonnel

n

well-to-do

eighbor-

hoods ould

ictimizehe

upper-

nd middle-classamiliesesid-

ing

n the

buildings

here

hey

worked.91

et,

s a residentf

Barcelonaold

me,

oncierges

ften

andpicked

heirndividual

victims ased

n

their wn

grudges

hat

went

eyond

lass.

Individualized

election

ay

ake

lace

ven nder

he

xtreme

circumstances

f

thnic

leansing

nd

genocide.

former

risoner

of the notorious

marska

amp

n Bosnia

describes

iolence

inflictedy erb uardsnMuslimnmates.neday, Serb uard

came

n at

night

nd nsulted

prisoner

ho,

s a

udge,

adfined

him or

traffic

ffensen the ate1970s

n another

nstance,

Sakib

ervanic,

thirty-two-year-old

rom

y

illage,disappeared"

becausef n

old

grudgegainst

isfather.

akib's

ather,

ustafa,

hadhadbusiness

ealswith adeGruban-but

ver he

yearshey

had ailedo

ettleome usinessebts. ade wned

couple

f mall

grocery

hops

lso

elling

ome

ppliances.

neof he

hops

as n

my

illage.

hebusiness

as

oing

ell ndhedecided

o

expand

t

through

ulk

ales f

ement,

ut

he did

not

have he

necessary

tor-

age

pace.

Mustafaet

im

se

part

fhis asement

or his

urpose,

but

they

ould

not

agree

n the mount

f the rent.As a

result,

Mustafa efusedo

pay

Radefor ome

ppliances

e

had

purchased

n

credit. adenowwanted

evenge-but

Mustafa as n the

rnopolje

camp.

t

saved

im,

utnot

his

on.92

Afterhe

Kosovowar

nded,

journalist

eported

hat

Captain

Kevin

Lambert old

me

of an

Albanianwomanwho

accused

Serb f

kidnapping

er

uring

hewar.

aptain

ambert's

roops

arrestedhe

man,

ut

upon

nvestigating,

hey

iscovered

hat

he

woman's

amily

ad been

rying

o coerce imto sell them

is

apartment.

asthis caseof

falsely

ccusing

he erb o

get

his

home?

With

no

proof,

he

U.S.

Army

ecided

t

was."93

an

Gross's

bservationbout

the

violence hat

rupted

n

western

Poland

during

he

Soviet

occupation

f

1939

captures

his

private-grudge

spect articularly

ell:

Yet,

much

s

the

iolence

epresented

n

explosion

f

ombinedth-

nic,

eligious,

ndnationalist

onflict,

am

neverthelesstruck

y

ts

intimacy.

ore

ften

han

ot,

ictimsnd

xecutionersnew

ach

other

ersonally.

ven ftereveral

ears,

urvivors

ould till ame

names.

efinitively,

eople

ook his

pportunity

o

get

ven or

er-

sonal

njuries

f he

ast emphasis

ine].94

Becausef he revailingmphasisn the op tthe xpensef

the

bottom,

here

s a

pronounced

endency

o

ocate he

gency

of

violencenthe

ormer;

ence he

ropensity

o

portray

he io-

lence f civilwars s

being

xternally

mposed

n

unsuspecting

and, therefore,

nnocent

ivilians.95

n

this

view,

ivilians

re

objects

ather

han

ubjects

f he iolence. uatemalan

easants

tend o

describe

he ivilwar

s

"something

ural ommunities

were

aught

n

but

not

f

heir

making."'9

eferring

o the

xpe-

rience f Greek

illage uring

reece's

ivil

war,

n

anthropol-

ogist oints

ut:"The

villagers

ere,

s

always,

hevictims

f

struggles

f

others

atherhan he ctive lement fthe

truggle

itself."'7

his

perspective

s

succinctlyxpressed

n

various

ayings

abouttheproverbialnts aught etweenightinglephantsr

buffalo.

ndeed,

much f

the

contemporary

uman-rights

is-

course ntails his

ssumption,

hich

s also

echoed

n instru-

mentalist

heoriesf thnic

onflict,

herendividuals

re

manip-

ulated

ypoliticians

n

pursuit

f

political

ower.

When

not een

as

victims,

ndividuals

imply

anish.

hey

re

aggregated

nto

groups

"the

Serbs,"

the

people")

whose

actions

re

other-

directed.he

term

uppet,

sed

o

describe

he

ollaborator

rmy

during

he

Japaneseccupation

f

China nd

similar

ituations

elsewhere,98

ndicates

he

prevalence

f n

"instigator"

heory

f

violent onflict.

his

theory

s

not

necessarily

naccurate,

spe-

cially

when hefocus

s

ust

on thevisible

ortion

f

violence;

however,tunderplaysrdownrightenies hat herere also

"instigatees,"

hose

participation

s

essential

o

transform

ni-

mosity

nto

iolence.99

Many

etailed

escriptions

f

violence

uggest

he

presence

f

considerable

ocal

nput

nd nitiativen the

production

fvio-

lence.Rather

han

being

mposed pon

communities

y

out-

siders,

his vidence

uggests,

iolence ften

but

not

always)

grows

rom ithin

ommunitiesvenwhen t

s executed

y

ut-

siders;

t

s,

n other

ords,

ften

ntimate.he

following

naly-

sis

by

Sinn

Fain

ouncilor

n

Coalisland,

orthern

reland,

ug-

gests

hat

he

religious"

leavage

n this

rea,

hough

ctivated

along

he

ines

f the

onflict's

aster

leavage,

verlapped

ith

a

(local)

conflict

etween wo ubsets f

people

n

Coagh

and

Coalisland-distinctfrom other local conflictsbetween

Protestant

nd Catholic

roups

cross

orthernreland:

482

September

003

1

Vol.1/No.



10/21

The UDR

[Ulster

Defense

Regiment]

rom

Coagh

came

into

Coalisland,

which s a

ninety-nine

er

cent

nationalist

own,

nd

patrolled

round he own.

hey

would

top

choolchildrenn

their

way

o

chool,

et

hem oturn ut heirchool

ags,

r

top

ars.

..

They

would search nd read

anything,

etters,

rivate

ocuments

from our olicitor,ven f t wasobvious hat here as nosecurity

force onnection.he UDR

man

ouldread

very

ne of

hose

oc-

uments,

e

could ven

ount he

money

n

your

ocket,

ven

hough

he

was

our

ext-door

eighbour.

he

only

ualification

e

needed as

that ewas member

f

he

UDR.

It

ed o

great

ension...

It

made

people

eel ow

nd t

engendered

otal

ostility

owardshe

Loyalist

community

nd

gave

he

mpression

hat his s a Catholic

ersus

Protestant

ar.

But

thad

nothing

odo

with

eligion;

t was

he

imple

arming f

one ection

f

the

ommunitygainst

he ther

hiht

ou

deprive

hat ther

ection

f

ny

means

f efending

hemselves

empha-

sis

mine].100

Descriptions

f

police, rmy,

r

guerrillaweeps,

rrests,

r

assas-

sinations eveal hat

violence

n

civil

warsoften ntails

he

partic-

ipation

of

community

members,

who either ct as

suppliers

f

information r

(lessoften)

participate

n

moredirect

ways.

The

reliance f

political

ctorson local

informations

typically

on-

veyed

by

the

widespread

se of

blacklists,

s

suggested

y

the

fol-

lowingreport

rom

Colombia:

At east

ight

easants

ere illedn

thenorthern

illage

f

an

Roque

in

what he

police

aid

they

uspected

as

right-wing

aramilitary

attack.

unmen illed

ourmembersf

family

t a

gas

tation,

hen

stormednto he

homes f four arm

orkersnd

opened

ire

fter

checking

heirdentities

gainst

list

hey

arried,

he

olice

aid.

he

area s

also

frequent

tage

or eftist

ebel ttacks."'0

In his postwar rial,LieutenantGeneral Takeo Ito, a Japanese

commander n

Papua

New

Guinea,

told

the

judges

that

the

ists

for xecutions

were

compiled

n this

way.

nformation

ould be

given

o a

Japanese

oldier

y

a

native

hat ome

person

was

a

spy

and

had contacted

Australian

oldiers."102

When

Federal

forces

invaded entral

rkansas n

1863,

a

delegation

f

Unionists rom

Pine

Bluff

went

o

meet hem

nd escort

hem o

their own.

On

arriving

n

Pine

Bluff,

he

troops roceeded

o

ransack he

homes

of

Rebel

sympathizers;

s one

resident

oted,

"They

knew

every

ones

name

& where

they

ived."'03

After

he

Whites

captured

city

uring

he

Russian

Civil

War,

itwas

enough

for

omeone o

point

a

finger"

or

person

to

die.'04

The list of

victims n

the

Colombian townofBuriticai as routinelyubmitted n advance

to the

parishpriest

or

pproval.'05

fter e

was

denounced

and

arrested,

uring

he

Biafran ivil

War,

man

recalled: I

should

notreturn

o

Uyo,

for

my

people

were fter

my

blood."'06

Almost

every

ase of

apparently

ndiscriminate

iolence n

Guatemala

described n

detail

by

Robert Carmack

and his

associates

urns

out to

have entailed

ome

measure f ocal

nput:

name ists

sed

in

army

massacres

were

composed

with

nformation rom

ocal

people,

"orders o kill .

.

had a local

origin,"

nd

people

were

killed fter

he

nterventionf

old

enemies.107

ocal

Serbs

partic-

ipated

n

the

massacre f

about40

ethnicAlbanians n

the

village

of

Slovinje

n

Kosovo

April

15

and

16,

1999);

according

o a wit-

ness,

"When

the

army

ame,

our own

Serbs

put

on

masks nd

joined

in the

butchery. hey

knewwho

to

single

ut.

They

knew

who

had

money."'08

A

Basque peasant

woman,

whose

family

suffered

t the hands of the nationalists

uring

he

Spanish

Civil

War,

summarizes

t best:"It wasn't

Francowho harmed

us,

but

people

from ere-the

village."'09

Local

participation

s

compatible

with all sorts

of

motives,

ranging

from he

most

ideological

to the most

opportunistic.

Evidence

uggests

hat

key

motive s

settling

rivate

cores nre-

lated to the war'smaster

leavage.

Many

acts of violence hat

on

the surface

and

to

outsiders)

ppear

to be

generated

y

exclu-

sively olitical

motivations

ften urn

ut,

on closer

xamination,

to be "causednot

by

politics

but

by

personal

hatreds, endettas,

and

envy.""' Thucydides

rgues

hat

personally

motivated

rime

masked

by

political

retext

s one of the essential

eatures

f

civil

war,"'

while Machiavelli

describes

situationwhere

politically

motivated iots ffer

pretext

or

private

iolence."112

ocqueville

makes

similar bservation

henhe

argues

hat

private

nterest,

which

always

plays

the

greatest art

n

political

passions,

s

...

skillfully

oncealed

beneath he veil

of

public

nterest."13

In

her

study fGuatemala,KayWarren inds "deepermessage" idden

in the local and

private

nderpinnings

f a murder hat

seems

political

nd

impersonal."4

he

anthropologist

ho asserts

hat

Greek

villagers

were

"always

he victims f

struggles

f

others

rather han

the active lement

f the

struggle

tself"

ists,

few

pages

ater nher

book,

a host of

private

motives ehind

the

vio-

lence

of the Greek Civil

War;

for

example,

one

man

oined

the

Communists

with he

xpress

ntention

f

killing

rival

nheritor

ofhis

father's."115

The stories f

Aristogiton

nd

Harmodius on the

one

hand,

and PavlikMorozov

on the

other,

re

particularly

uggestive

n

this

respect. Thucydides

tells the

story

of

Aristogiton

nd

Harmodius,twoAthenians elebrated orhavingkilledthedic-

tator

Hipparchus:

"In

fact the bold

action undertaken

by

Aristogiton

nd Harmodius was

due to a love

affair. shall

deal

withthis n some

detail,

nd show

that

Athenians

hemselves

re

no

better

han other

people

at

producing

ccurate

nformation

about their wn dictators

nd the facts

f their wn

history."

t

turns

out that

Hipparchus,

without

success,

approached

Harmodius,

"a most beautiful

young

man in

the flower

f

his

youth

[who]

was loved and

possessed

by

Aristogiton."

Harmodius

rebuked

Hipparchus's

dvances nd told

Aristogiton,

"who,

being

n love as he

was,

was

greatly pset

and was

afraid

that

Hipparchus,

with

all his

power,

might

ake

Harmodius

by

force.He thereforebeganat once,so far s he could in hisposi-

tion,

to

plot

to

overthrow

he

dictatorship."

ventually,

fter

complicated

sequence

of

events,

Harmodius and

Aristogiton

assassinated

ipparchus.

As

Thucydides

oncludes:

In

this

way

the

conspiracy

f

Harmodius and

Aristogiton

riginated

n

the

wounded

feeling

f a

lover.""'6

Pavlik

Morozov was

the

Soviet

boy

who informed

n his kulak father

nd

was killed

by

his

uncles in

revenge

n

September

1932.

Pavlikbecame

famous

when

theSoviet

regime romoted

him

as the

upstanding

oung

Pioneer

who,

n a

situation f

conflicting amily

nd state

oyal-

ties,

nobly put

the

nterests fthe statefirst.

he writer

Maxim

Gorky

cited Pavlik

Morozov as an

example

of

Soviet

heroism,

and for

decades Pavlik

was treated s the

patron

saint of

the

Pioneers

and

eulogized

in

public

monuments,

meetings,

nd

inspirational

hildren's

ooks.

Anticommunists, owever,

ited

www.apsanet.org

83



11/21

Articles

j

The

Ontology

f

Political

iolence"

his case as indicativeof the moral

decay

of

totalitarianism,

whereby

deological

control

undermined

nd

destroyed

ven

family

onds. But

a careful

investigation

ncovered different

motivation ehind

Pavlik's

ction:his

father,

he chairman f the

local

rural

soviet,

had

abandoned

his wife and

children and

moved n with a

younger

woman from hesame

village.

Pavlik

eitherdenounced

his

father

ut of

personal

resentment

as

the

eldest

hild,

t

13

or

14,

he had to takecare of

his

family)

r was

prompted

by

Documents

Ontology of Political Violence