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Liberal Pacification and the Phenomenology of Violence

Baron, Ilan Zvi; Kamola, Isaac A.; Havercroft, Jonathan; Murphy, Justin; Koomen, Jonneke; Pritchard, Alex

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Authors

Isaac A. Kamola

Jonathan Havercroft

Justin Murphy

Jonneke Koomen

Alex Pritchard



Abstract

While international relations scholars make many claims about violence, they rarely define the concept. This article develops a typology of three distinct kinds of violence: direct, indirect, and pacification. Direct violence occurs when a person or agent inflicts harm on another. Indirect violence manifests through the structures of society. We propose a third understanding of violence: pacification. Using a phenomenological methodology, and drawing on anarchist and postcolonial thought, we show that the violence of pacification is diffuse, inconspicuous, intersubjective, and structured into the fabric of society. This understanding of violence matters for the study of international relations in general and research on the liberal peace in particular. We argue that the spread of liberal institutions does not necessarily decrease violence but instead transforms it. Our phenomenological analysis captures empirical trends in human domination and suffering that liberal peace theories cannot account for. It reveals how a decline in direct violence may coincide with the transformation of violence in ways that are concealed, monopolized, and structured into the liberal order. We call this process liberal pacification.

Citation

Baron, I. Z., Kamola, I. A., Havercroft, J., Murphy, J., Koomen, J., & Pritchard, A. (2019). Liberal Pacification and the Phenomenology of Violence. International Studies Quarterly, 63(1), 199-212. https://doi.org/10.1093/isq/sqy060

Journal Article Type Article
Acceptance Date Apr 19, 2018
Online Publication Date Mar 18, 2019
Publication Date Mar 31, 2019
Deposit Date Apr 23, 2018
Publicly Available Date Mar 28, 2024
Journal International Studies Quarterly
Print ISSN 0020-8833
Electronic ISSN 1468-2478
Publisher Oxford University Press
Peer Reviewed Peer Reviewed
Volume 63
Issue 1
Pages 199-212
DOI https://doi.org/10.1093/isq/sqy060

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Publisher Licence URL
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/

Copyright Statement
Advance online version © The Author(s) (2019). Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the International Studies Association.
This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/), which permits non-commercial re-use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. For commercial re-use, please contact journals.permissions@oup.com






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