Culture and Conflict

No. 29-30, January-Feburary 1998

Towards a new paradigm of violence?

• To think about what violence means, which are its forms and what changes it undergoes in the contemporary world, social sciences necessarily have to take into consideration several aspects. They have to combine theoretical thinking to empirical knowledge production, derived from the best sources, be them written documents or direct long lasting field contacts with the actors involved. Moreover, it is necessary to compare the different experiences, and, more precisely, to give a double meaning to international research projects, as this means to compare situations and processes belonging to different national frameworks and to think of their relations. Still, social sciences must address the historical aspect of the phenomena which are being analysed. This implies to take into account the ruptures and the continuity in the meaning and in the actual forms of violence and to think about the weight political cultures have in the selected societies.

• These are the considerations on which the following monographs are based. They follow an introduction written by the responsible for and the initiator of these works. They form an extremely diversified group as to its actual objects, but rather homogeneous—at an intellectual level—as to the general reflection which introduces this work and which take advantage of their specific contributions. They were elaborated by researchers used to working and thinking together, who share the same orientations, for whom their job has the same meaning, and, who, with few exceptions, belong to the same research institute, CADIS. The major questions they address in order to find possible answers are not homogeneously treated, but are ever present: what is new, peculiar in contemporary violence concerning its objective manifestation (be it possible to consider the objective aspect of violence) and its perception and representation, usually excessively or not enough emphasised ? What kind of links exist between violence and the State and political system organisation and the changes they undergo? What does it mean to refer to group identity, more specifically to religious identity while talking about violence and how do actors shift from religious or sectarian identity to the use of weapons? Must we think about violence essentially in terms of crisis, decay, chaos or must we possibly look for the print of the subject, the perverted or impossible effort made by those actors who strive to exist or to be recognised ? Finally, the whole reflection on violence is based on one fundamental question: how can problems be solved and, more specifically, what are the conditions for violence to diminish or to end by negotiating instead of resorting to repression or political or military intervention?

• The works gathered in this edition are based on a long lasting research, on field knowledge and are reconsidered by their authors specifically in terms of violence and according to the questions mentioned before. For some of them, specific research has been undertaken. All these works could not have been carried out without the contributions of the researchers involved, of Jacqueline Longérinas and of other CADIS members, in particular Mireille Constance, Lidia Meschy and Christine Blanchard-Latreyte. The authors of this special edition are grateful to them and to the Cultures et Conflits review which kindly hosted their works.