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Spiral of the Complication of Violence:
a Demand for a Humanistic Policy

Kravchenko S.A.,

Head of Sociology Department, MGIMO University; Principal Researcher, Institute of Sociology of the Federal Center of Theoretical and Applied Sociology of the Russian Academy of Sciences, sociol7@yandex.ru

elibrary_id: 77019 | RESEARCHER_ID: H-5769-2016

DOI: 10.17976/jpps/2019.05.04

Rubric: Theme of the Issue: New Trends in the Studies of World Politics

For citation:

Kravchenko S.A. Spiral of the Complication of Violence: a Demand for a Humanistic Policy. – Polis. Political Studies. 2019. No. 5. https://doi.org/10.17976/jpps/2019.05.04

Abstract

The effect of complicating the nature of violence – the transition from its traditional, relatively “simple” forms to increasingly complex ones – is considered in this article. The author shows the failure of the two dominant approaches “overcoming” this, as have been historically prevailing, with the help of the following: 1) retaliatory violence against primary violence and 2) the “treatment” of violence through a formal rationalization of people’s vital activity; this actually leads not to its denial, but to the imposition of some forms of violence over others and to changes of rigid punishments with “softer” ones. As a result, more complex manifestations of violence are formed – the author defines this effect as the spiral of the complication of violence. The factors that determine its dynamics are shown, which include: the accelerating change in people’s material, economic and social conditions as life changes under the influence of industrial revolutions; the emergence of globo-local-enclave interdependencies, accompanied by the growth of complex violence between civilizations, states and non-state entities; anthropogenic violence on the planet. The complicated manifestations of violence have ambivalent consequences on the nature of interaction of social actors: on the one hand, there have been unprecedented challenges in the form of privatized violence, “hybrid illegal-legitimate” wars, illegitimate sanctions, and “liquid evil”; but on the other hand, bridges are created that contribute to the integration of people and cultures. According to the author, the consequences of the spiral of the complication of violence dictate the need to move to new trends in the development of human relations, to search for answers to the emerging challenges in the context of humanistic policies. Of particular importance is the acceptance of the humanistic turn in modern knowledge. In practical terms, this is needed for working out adequate strategies to deal with metamorphoses of violence.

Keywords

violence, arrow of time, multifactorial causation, complex socium, the spiral of complication of violence, socio-techno-natural reality, metamorphoses of violence, humanistic turn.

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