«Violence is the driving force of politics. The importance of violence derives from the dominance it usually manifests over other forms of political action, from its destructive and politically transformative power and from the capacity of violence to serve as an instrument of political mobilization. These three factors explain why Chairman Mao was correct in his assertion that political power emanated from the gun barrel.
In using violence, states generally have a number of advantages vis-à-vis other actors. One advantage is bureaucracy. Anyone can be violent, but serious violence generally requires the support of a bureaucratic organization to overcome the natural, human, and moral limits of violence. Bureaucracy is one of the mechanisms through which states sometimes achieve the monopoly of force to which Max Weber famously referred.
Most states do not rely upon naked violence as an instrument of governance but seek to refine violence and make it a more effective tool. Domestically, states employ various forms of legitimation as well as the rule of law to refine their use of violence. In the international realm, refined violence is sometimes called soft power. Legitimation, law, and soft power are not substitutes for force but instead are, in military parlance, “force multipliers” that increase the effectiveness of a given quantity of force, allowing the same result to be achieved with less effort.
Another instrument that reduces the state’s need to rely upon overt violence is public welfare. Welfare is more a substitute for force than a force multiplier. It is the carrot rather than the stick, reward rather than punishment. The U.S., slow to build a welfare state, has chosen to rely more upon punishment than reward internally, which is why America has an enormous prison system. This internal reliance upon force has had consequences for America’s external relations, as well. In fact, the weakness of its welfare state helps to explain why the U.S. is among the most overtly violent states on the face of the earth. This might be seen as the dark side of American exceptionalism.
Governments, even liberal democracies, use violence against their citizens every day. But when, if ever, is it appropriate for citizens to use violence against the state?
Violence is terrible, but it is the great engine of political change. The next generation, perceiving itself to have been the beneficiary, is often grateful for the violent acts of the previous generation. Mechanisms designed to discourage popular violence, including political reform and peaceful modes of political participation, are generally tactics designed to delimit change».
«The Value of Violence»
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