The Logic of Violence in Civil War (Hardcover) (ISBN-13: 9780521854092)

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.

Author: Stathis N. Kalyvas
ISBN-10: 0521854091
ISBN-13: 9780521854092
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Language: English
Published: 05/01/2006
Pages: 510
Format: Hardcover
Weight: 1.90lbs
Size: 9.30h x 6.20w x 1.30d