The organisation of military violence in the 21st century

Abstract

In this article, I analyse the sociological foundations of military violence in the 21st century. The first part of the article engages critically with the three dominant contemporary approaches in the study of organised violence: (a) the decline of violence perspective, (b) the new wars theories and (c) the technological displacement approach. I argue that despite their obvious merits, these three perspectives do not provide adequate interpretation of recent social change. In particular, I contest their emphasis on the radical discontinuity in the character of the contemporary military violence when compared to the previous historical periods. Hence, to remedy this – in the second part of the article – I develop an alternative, a longue durée, sociological interpretation centred on the role of organisational, ideological and micro-interactional powers in the transformation of military violence. In contrast to the three dominant perspectives, I argue that the 21st-century organisation of military violence has changed but it still exhibits much more organisational continuity with the last two centuries than usually assumed. More specifically, my argument centres on the long-term impact of the three historical processes that have shaped the dynamics of military violence over long stretches of time: the cumulative bureaucratisation of coercion, centrifugal ideologisation and the envelopment of micro-solidarity.

Fear and Violence as Organizational Strategies: The Possibility of a Derridean Lens to Analyze Extra-judicial Police Violence

“…We extend the Indian literature on police violence, which describes that police violence is directed against Muslims for structuring a politics of fear against them (Jagannathan and Rai 2015 , 2017 ). We also agree with the broader literature on organizational violence which suggests that violence results from the privileging of ideology over processes of everyday life (Bergin and Westwood 2003 ; Malesevic 2017 ). While we agree that socialization nurtures religious, racial and gendered prejudices among police personnel (Monk et al 2019 ; Perry et al 2019 ; Waddington 1999 ), we are more cautious about this line of theorization as it can potentially naturalize police violence.…”

“…The Indian literature on police violence is in line with the broader literature which suggests that police engage in an insensitive manner towards ethnic minorities and women due to the institutionalization of implicit forms of racism, and informal socialization of police personnel where racial and gendered prejudices are reinforced (Monk et al 2019 ; Perry et al 2019 ; Waddington 1999 ). It is also in line with the broader literature on organizational violence which suggests that organizational actors engage in violence due to a climate of ideologization that prevails in society (Bergin and Westwood 2003 ; Malesevic 2017 ).…”

“…We contend that Ishrat’s encounter is not merely directed against Ishrat and other suspects but is premised around a broader imagination of culture and space. Malesevic ( 2017 ) indicates that increase in violence is associated with greater inequality as actors try to impose their hegemonies on the vulnerable.…”

Violence and Organization Studies

“…Equally, studies of organizational violence might encompass anything from bullying among workmates to the organization of military forces. We will discuss issues of defintional extensiveness later, but something else is at play here: a fundamental indeterminacy about the place and extent of violence in modern societies (Asad, 2015;Malešević, 2013Malešević, , 2017Walby, 2012). Thus one could just as easily make the argument that violence is more prevalent than it has ever been as that it is gradually becoming rarer or, just, that it is too early to tell (Malešević, 2017).…”

Rational and Emotional Tension Balances in the Organization of Political Hunger Strikes

“…They are also a form violence, violence against the self – one can physically harm or kill oneself. And, like war (Malešević, 2017), they always require some level of organization. The study of organization often involves a focus on rationalization.…”