(Dis)entangling (non)violence in resistance: four areas of contestation
Year: 2026
Type: article
Abstract: Both ‘violence’ and ‘nonviolence’ are contested terms. Naming ‘violence’ or ‘nonviolence’ is often central to what resistance struggles are about. Such contestations are therefore inevitably inherently political and normative, never just scientific or theoretical. Four areas of contestation are discussed: the variety of phenomena labelled ‘violence’; the importance of public perceptions for ‘nonviolent’ resistance; the extent to which even ‘nonviolent’ struggles seek to cause discomfort that can be received as ‘violent’; and the way ‘nonviolence’ can become entangled in the (re)production of ‘violence’. Seeking to settle definitions is therefore a Sisyphean task, even though these labels are important to resistance.
Source: Journal of Political Power
Institution: Loughborough University
Language: English
Subfield: Philosophy
Field: Arts and Humanities
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: hybrid
OpenAlex ID: W7155080671