ENGLISH

The Logic of Violence in Civil War

By Stathis N. Kalyvas

Book information

Publisher
Cambridge University Press
Year
2006
ISBN
0521854091, 9780521854092
LCC
JC328.6 .K34 2006
Language
english
Format
PDF
Filesize
8 MB (8471009 bytes)
Series
Cambridge Studies in Comparative Politics
Edition
1
Pages
508\510
Topic
Education
Scanned
yes
Time added
2011-06-04 13:46:07

Description

By analytically decoupling war and violence, this book explores the causes and dynamics of violence in civil war. Against the prevailing view that such violence is an instance of impenetrable madness, the book demonstrates that there is logic to it and that it has much less to do with collective emotions, ideologies, and cultures than currently believed. Kalyvas specifies a novel theory of selective violence: it is jointly produced by political actors seeking information and individual civilians trying to avoid the worst but also grabbing what opportunities their predicament affords them. Violence, he finds, is never a simple reflection of the optimal strategy of its users; its profoundly interactive character defeats simple maximization logics while producing surprising outcomes, such as relative nonviolence in the 'frontlines' of civil war.

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