Blog 8

Blog 8- Political Violence

Nowadays, it seems like there is almost continual instances of political violence.  The news seems to always feature a country that is being torn apart due to instances of internal and external violence.  With so many occurrences of political violence, it is not surprising that political scientists have difficulty finding an appropriate and consistent definition for the different forms of violence.  In addition, the various forms of political violence and the situations behind them vary with each individual circumstance, making it hard to find common characteristics.  However, through documenting and observing thousands of cases of political violence, researchers are able to organize instances of political violence and categorize them by type.  Scientists have also been able to take these types, including civil wars, revolutions, terrorism, guerilla warfare, genocide, and provide concise and accurate definitions that seem to fit the majority of political violence scenarios.  Such is the case with Switzerland, a remarkably non-violent country that in the few instances of political violence and terrorism fits the original definitions almost exactly. 

            In the Comparative Politics book, terrorism is defined as, “threatened or actual use of violence for political purposes by non-state actors, directed particularly against civilian targets” (Samuels 276).  The book suggests 4 main components that together, result in an act of terrorism.  They are the use of violence, the purpose being related to politics, the violence being done by someone who has power to influence politics but is not a member of the state, and the violence directed towards civilians.  As far as forms of political violence, terrorism is a common and “effective” form of political violence due to its ability to undermine a country and make it look unsafe and powerless (Samuels 276).  Despite its often occurrence, it rarely results in the terrorists overthrowing the country or achieving their long-term goals.  Usually the result is declining freedoms for the citizens of that country, as they have to choose between their individual freedoms or security and national freedom (Samuels 276).

            In Switzerland last year, they had an act of “terrorism” in which two people were injured after a bomb exploded at a federal office (Nibiru 1).  The bomb was planted at an agency that is responsible for dealing with the nation’s nuclear plants.  This bomb was one of several terrorism attacks in recent Swiss history, including one at a foreign embassy that injured one (Nibiru 1).   This attack was seemingly in response to the Swiss delaying the federal programs in charge of renovating aging nuclear plants (Nibiru 1). 

            As far as agreeing to the definition, Switzerland’s terrorist attack followed all four of the main components, along with achieving some of the same results terrorists usually strive for.  This terror attack included the use of violence (the bombing), it had political undertones, was set by a non-state group, and was directed towards innocent civilians. The political meaning behind the bombing was a response to the lack of renovation of the nuclear plants, perhaps even as a message that the nuclear plants were in danger as well.  Shortly after this attack, Swiss officials increased security at all other federal offices and nuclear plants (Nibiru 2).  Swiss officials were able to blame this act of terrorism on an anarchist group.  And finally, the bombing was directed towards innocent civilians, in this case, government employees at a national agency.  The bombing even had the common results of a terrorist attack; there was a declined sense of national security, and the federal government reacted by increasing security at threatened locations and taking a closer look at how to better protect its citizens.  Overall, Switzerland was able to support the definition of terrorism and show that it is an effective way to define that form of political violence. 

 Work Cited 

Nibiru.  “Bomb explosion injured two men in Switzerland”.  Revolutionary Human Media.  Coup media group.  31 Mar 2011.  Web.  8 Nov 2012. 

Samuels, David J. Comparative Politics.  New York: Pearson.  2013.  Book.