An incisive analysis of the connections between democracy and violence by acknowledged experts in the field. The connection between the two activities has often been largely ignored because of a widespread reluctance among democrats to consider the possibility that democratic forms perhaps encourage violence. This challenging volume opens up the debate.

Emerging from a conference titled "Democracy and Violence" held at the Stanford Alpine Meadows Lodge, California, in September 1997, this volume contains 16 contributions written by professors and scholars in the social sciences. A dominant theme is that democracies have a proclivity to stimulate political violence. Topics addressed include the violence associated with elections, both generally and in countries such as Israel, Italy, Eastern Europe, and the US. Attention is paid to ethnic strife, riots, and terrorism in democracies, as well as general issues such as the meaning of a persistent history of violence and Thomas Jefferson's idea that democratic states need periodic violence to sustain themselves. Distributed by ISBS. c. Book News Inc.

In this collection, senior experts explore all aspects of extreme right wing political violence, from the nature of the threat, processes of engagement, and ideology to the lessons that can be drawn from exiting such engagement. Further, right wing activism and political violence are compared with Jihadi violence and engagement. Also, the European experience is placed within a greater framework, including that of the United States and the Arab Spring. The book opens with an essay on U.S. far right groups, investigating their origins and processes of recruitment. It then delves into violence against UK Mosques and Islamic centers, the relationship between Ulster loyalism and far right extremism, the Dutch extremist landscape, and the July 2011 Norway attacks. Also discussed are how narratives of violence are built and justified, at what point do individuals join into violence, and how differently states respond to left-wing vs. right-wing extremism. This comparative work offers a unique look into the very nature of right wing extremism and will be a must-read for anyone studying political violence and terrorism

From Tunisia to Egypt and from Israel to Iran, the debates surrounding the concept of democracy in the Middle East are never straightforward. This has been particularly evident since the events of 2009 in Iran and the uprisings across the Arab world in late 2010 and 2011. Against this backdrop, Democratic Peace across the Middle East critically analyses the prospects for democracy throughout the region, specifically asking whether political and social modernisation are absolute preconditions for democratic peace to take hold in the region, or whether democracy without modernisation might be enough. It explores the dynamics between neo-patriarchy and Islam on the one hand, and democratisation and modernisation on the other, and also considers the prospect of the political accommodation of opposition groups. Incorporating an analysis of a variety of key dynamics which affect each Middle Eastern country in turn, such as tribal and sectarian identity, Islamism and the structure of political party systems, this book will appeal to those researching the Middle East and its patterns of rule.

Since the end of the Cold War there have been a number of cases where the democratization process has been turbulent, or even violent. Addressing electoral violence, its evolution and impact in the Western Balkans, this book explores the conflict logic of election and tries to understand its basic patterns. Two decades of electoral competition in the region are analysed to identify an interesting evolution of electoral violence in terms of forms, actors, motivations and dynamics. By identifying the potential drivers of electoral violence and explaining the escalation and stimulus of violence-related events, the author combines a theoretical approach with original data to emphasise the variability of the phenomenon and its evolution in the region. The book will appeal to students and scholars of post-communist Europe and democratisation processes and the Western Balkans in particular. It should also be of interest to political advisors and those involved in developing or implementing democratisation programmes.

This book explores the relationships between fundamentalist religious belief, political extremism and outbreaks of religiously inspired violence. Is the post-Cold War world increasingly violent and is this violence the result of strident religious understandings of how societies should be organized?

What were the reasons behind the terrorist attacks of September 11th? Does the cause of Islamist terrorism relate to the lack of democracy in the Middle East? Through detailed research into the activities of both radical and moderate organizations across the Middle East, such as the Muslim Brotherhood, Hamas and Hizbullah, and via interviews with key personnel, Katerina Dalacoura investigates whether repression and political exclusion pushed Islamist entities to adopt terrorist tactics. She also explores whether inclusion in the political process has had the opposite effect of encouraging Islamist groups toward moderation and ideological pragmatism. In a challenge to the conventional wisdom, she concludes that Islamist terrorism is not a direct consequence of authoritarianism in the Middle East and that there are many key factors that generate radicalism.

Rwanda and Burundi are strikingly similar countries that underwent democratization in the early 1990s. In both, resistance to democratic reforms led to coups d’état and presidential assassinations. A conundrum arises in terms of what transpires next. In Rwanda, total genocide was perpetrated by extremist Hutu actors, including government officials, upon the country’s Tutsi and politically moderate Hutu populations. In Burundi the coup d’état failed and instead ushered in a lengthy period of civil war. This divergence in outcome is puzzling given the similarity of these two countries, and it is not adequately explained by studies that address collective violence in each. This book utilizes an integrative approach that facilitates the formation of an explanation that more fully accounts for variation in the type of collective violence that occurred in Rwanda and Burundi. Showing that political actors – during periods of major institutional change – do not all respond to or perceive reform in the exact same manner or in a necessarily rational manner, this book makes an important contribution to the literature on ethnic conflict, collective violence and democratization in Africa.

Examines global terrorist networks and discusses the long-term future of terrorism.