Institutionalizing Violence

"This chapter presents the analytical framework of this book in the contentious politics research agenda. The book situates jihadi groups in a multilevel environment constituted by their political environment, social movement, the security services, the public, and a potential countermovement. This chapter argues that jihadi groups can successively radicalise in interaction with any of these actors. The first argument is that radicalisation forces them to institutionalise along one dimension. The second argument is that the succession of several phases of radicalisation and institutionalisation shapes their long-term trajectories and strategic choices"--

This study of Fatah's institutionalisation reveals an ongoing interplay of intra-organisational considerations, relations between the organisation and its national constituency, and environmental opportunities and pressures.

"This chapter presents the analytical framework of this book in the contentious politics research agenda. The book situates jihadi groups in a multilevel environment constituted by their political environment, social movement, the security services, the public, and a potential countermovement. This chapter argues that jihadi groups can successively radicalise in interaction with any of these actors. The first argument is that radicalisation forces them to institutionalise along one dimension. The second argument is that the succession of several phases of radicalisation and institutionalisation shapes their long-term trajectories and strategic choices"--

The first book length study of agonism as a mature account of democratic politics, Institutionalizing Agonistic Democracy provides a lucid overview of agonistic democratic theories and demonstrates the viability of this approach for institutional politics. Situating agonistic democracy within and against debates about radical democracy, foundationalism, liberal democracy, and pluralism, Institutionalizing Agonistic Democracy engages the texts of Mouffe, Connolly, Ranciere, Tully, Honig, Owen, and others to fully map the contours of agonistic democratic theories. Organizing this diverse literature into a coherent typology enables sophisticated analysis of the assumptions, distinctions, and aspirations of the often conflicting theoretical positions gathered within the constellation of agonistic democratic theory. Using this framework to explore the concrete institutional possibilities appropriate to agonistic democracy, Wingenbach argues that a modified version of Rawlsian political liberalism describes the institutional conditions most likely to sustain agonistic political practices. Once shorn of metaphysical commitments and detached from aspirations to consensus, political liberalism offers a contingent and historically viable framework within which agonistic contestation can occur. Such a reinterpretation of Rawls produces not the sublimation of agonism but a transformation of liberalism, so that it more adequately accommodates the deep pluralism of the post-foundational condition.

Contemporary politics are characterised by the impossibility of agreement on fundamental values. This book examines the institutional alternatives available to democratic politics to determine which institutional structures are most likely to produce a democratic social order in which agonistic citizenship might flourish.

Violence is an inescapable through-line across the experiences of institutional residents regardless of facility type, historical period, regional location, government or staff in power, or type of population. Population Control explores the relational conditions that give rise to institutional violence – whether in residential schools, internment camps, or correctional or psychiatric facilities. This violence is not dependent on any particular space, but on underlying patterns of institutionalization that can spill over into community settings even as Canada closes many of its large-scale facilities. Contributors to the collection argue that there is a logic across community settings that claim to provide care for unruly populations: a logic of institutional violence, which involves a deep entanglement of both loathing and care. This loathing signals a devaluation of the institutionalized and leaves certain populations vulnerable to state intervention under the guise of care. When that offer of care is polluted by loathing, however, there comes along with it an unavoidable and socially prescribed violence. Offering a series of case studies in the Canadian context – from historical asylums and laundries for “fallen women” to contemporary prisons, group homes, and emergency shelters – Population Control understands institutional violence as a unique and predictable social phenomenon, and makes inroads toward preventing its reoccurrence.

A look at gun control, campus sexual assault, immigration, and more that considers the future of responses to domestic violence Domestic violence is commonly assumed to be a bipartisan, nonpolitical issue, with politicians of all stripes claiming to work to end family violence. Nevertheless, the Violence Against Women Act expired for over 500 days between 2012 and 2013 due to differences between the U.S. Senate and House, demonstrating that legal protections for domestic abuse survivors are both highly political and highly vulnerable. Racial and gender politics, the move toward criminalization, reproductive justice concerns, gun control debates, and political interests are increasingly shaping responses to domestic violence, demonstrating the need for greater consideration of the interplay of politics, domestic violence, and how the law works in people’s lives. The Politicization of Safety provides a critical historical perspective on domestic violence responses in the United States. It grapples with the ways in which child welfare systems and civil and criminal justice responses intersect, and considers the different, overlapping ways in which survivors of domestic abuse are forced to cope with institutionalized discrimination based on race, gender, sexual orientation, and immigration status. The book also examines movement politics and the feminist movement with respect to domestic violence policies. The tensions discussed in this book, similar to those involved in the #metoo movement, include questions of accountability, reckoning, redemption, healing, and forgiveness. What is the future of feminism and the movements against gender-based violence and domestic violence? Readers are invited to question assumptions about how society and the legal system respond to intimate partner violence and to challenge the domestic violence field to move beyond old paradigms and contend with larger justice issues.

"Written largely by a group of young scholars of diverse backgrounds, the essays reflect views and voices that are not always heard above the Anglo-American din. The volume provides a resource for scholars and policymakers alike, enriching the current debate and making more fruitful the international dialogue between North and South."--BOOK JACKET.