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The Violence of Development: Guerrillas, Gangs, and Goondas in Perspective

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The Palgrave Handbook of International Development

Abstract

This chapter analyses the intuitively compelling assumption that violence is inimical to development. Ever since Marx argued that the development of Europe proceeded through ‘primitive accumulation’, many writers from a wide range of theoretical perspectives have in fact regarded development as inherently reliant on coercion and force. The chapter provides a brief survey of arguments that violence is linked with development before outlining three examples—the cases of guerrillas, gangs, and goondas—that, we argue, exposes the more productive associations of violence. We accept that not all violence is developmental, but the chapter highlights the importance of being able to understand the conditions and forms under which violence might or might not be progressive, and how and why development becomes linked to violence, and when this relationship potentially dissipates.

Dangerous human proclivities can be canalized into comparatively harmless channels by the existence of opportunity for money-making and private wealth, which, if they cannot be satisfied in this way, may find their outlet in cruelty, the reckless pursuit of power and authority, and other forms of self-aggrandizement.

(John Maynard Keynes 1936: 374)

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Notes

  1. 1.

    A piñata is a decorated papier-mâché figure filled with sweets, which often features at parties in Latin America. It is struck with a stick by a blindfolded person until it breaks open and its contents spill out, at which point a scramble ensues as people attempt to grab as many treats as possible.

  2. 2.

    Linked to this, gangs often perform ‘social responsibility’, therefore, by supporting community projects or as benefactors of festivals, parties, and responding to disasters. In so doing, gangs have been conceptualised as parallel or alternative states (Arias 2014; RAND 2012; Zaluar 2001).

  3. 3.

    The Vohra report was deemed so sensitive that only a short and bland summary was released in 1995. The detailed annexes remained secret for 20 years until a Supreme Court direction restricting disclosure was overturned following a Right to Information Request.

  4. 4.

    At the same time, Shiv Sena also cultivated support among women, some of whom were prominent in demonstrations and violence against Muslims, gaining a sense of empowerment, freedom to move in public space, and respect as ‘gangsters’ (Sen 2007).

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Geography, London School of Economics & Political Science, ■, UK

    Gareth A. Jones

  2. Faculty of Social and Behavioural Sciences, University of Amsterdam, ■, UK

    Dennis Rodgers

Authors
  1. Gareth A. Jones
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  2. Dennis Rodgers
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Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Politics, University of York, Heslington, United Kingdom

    Jean Grugel

  2. Department of Geography, University of Sheffield, United Kingdom

    Daniel Hammett

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Jones, G.A., Rodgers, D. (2016). The Violence of Development: Guerrillas, Gangs, and Goondas in Perspective. In: Grugel, J., Hammett, D. (eds) The Palgrave Handbook of International Development. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-137-42724-3_24

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