The Logic of Violence in Civil War

This book demonstrates that there is logic to violence in civil war.

Stathis N. Kalyvas (Author)

9780521854092, Cambridge University Press

Hardback, published 1 May 2006

510 pages, 18 tables
24.2 x 16.5 x 3.2 cm, 0.825 kg

“Kalyvas’s main aim…is to theorize the role of violence as a specific and separate factor in civil war. The author’s hypothesis is that violence in particular civil war contexts is linked to the level of control that either insurgents or government forces have over a village or region. He tests it against a large amount of empirical data, primarily from areas of Greece during World War II and the subsequent Civil War, and more impressionistically with accounts and micro-level studies of civil wars from elsewhere. Kalyvas’s point is that violence in civil wars cannot be interpreted as simply irrational brutality, but is rather linked to the pursuit of political objectives.”
Tara McCormack, Brunel University, Journal of Intervention and Statebuilding

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.

Introduction
1. Concepts and definitions
2. Pathologies
3. Barbarism
4. A theory of irregular war I: collaboration
5. A theory of irregular war II: control
6. The logic of indiscriminate violence
7. A theory of selective violence
8. Empirics I: comparative evidence
9. Empirics II: microcomparative evidence
10. Intimacy
11. Cleavage and agency
Conclusion.

Subject Areas: Comparative politics [JPB]