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Political Violence, its Forms and Strategies in the First Austrian Republic

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Social Protest, Violence and Terror in Nineteenth- and Twentieth-century Europe

Abstract

This contribution deals with the concept of ‘political violence’ in so far as it concerns actions whereby human beings inflict (forcible) physical damage — injuries or death — on each other.1 Political violence, in this context, is understood as one of the forms political and social conflicts may take in a given society. In a wide range of not-yet-violent methods for the articulation of interests and the settlement of conflicts, which vary according to conflict systems, violence represents the most extreme means.2 It appears not merely in one area of conflict — such as politics and government — but is systematically linked to many conflict systems, within families, the workplace and the economy. It is, however, a characteristic of violence that at certain levels, or when the ‘normal’ sequence of escalation is blocked, it can, through external influence, shift from one conflict system to another; this accounts for its multidimensional nature that makes it so difficult to pin down.3 Its study therefore also requires at least some examination of non-violent levels in the conduct of conflicts within a conflict system.

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Notes

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Authors
  1. Gerhard Botz
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Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. University of Düsseldorf, Germany

    Wolfgang J. Mommsen (Professor of History, Director) (Professor of History, Director)

  2. German Historical Institute, London, UK

    Wolfgang J. Mommsen (Professor of History, Director) & Gerhard Hirschfeld (Fellow) (Professor of History, Director) &  (Fellow)

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© 1982 Wolfgang J. Mommsen and Gerhard Hirschfeld

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Botz, G. (1982). Political Violence, its Forms and Strategies in the First Austrian Republic. In: Mommsen, W.J., Hirschfeld, G. (eds) Social Protest, Violence and Terror in Nineteenth- and Twentieth-century Europe. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-349-16941-2_18

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