Order, Conflict, and Violence

Description

There might appear to be little that binds the study of order and the study of violence and conflict. Bloodshed in its multiple forms is often seen as something separate from and unrelated to the domains of 'normal' politics that constitute what we think of as order. But violence is used to create order, to maintain it, and to uphold it in the face of challenges. This volume demonstrates the myriad ways in which order and violence are inextricably intertwined. The chapters embrace such varied disciplines as political science, economics, history, sociology, philosophy, and law; employ different methodologies, from game theory to statistical modeling to in-depth historical narrative to anthropological ethnography; and focus on different units of analysis and levels of aggregation, from the state to the individual to the world system. All are essential reading for anyone who seeks to understand current trends in global conflict.

Stathis N. Kalyvas is Arnold Wolfers Professor of Political Science at Yale University, where he directs the Program on Order, Conflict, and Violence. He is the author of The Logic of Violence in Civil War (2006) and The Rise of Christian Democracy in Europe (1996). Ian Shapiro is Sterling Professor of Political Science at Yale University, where he also serves as Henry R. Luce Director of the MacMillan Center for International and Area Studies. His most recent books are Containment: Rebuilding a Strategy against Global Terror (2007), The Flight From Reality in the Human Sciences (2005), and Death by a Thousand Cuts: The Fight Over Taxing Inherited Wealth (with Michael Graetz, 2006). Tarek Masoud is a doctoral candidate in Political Science at Yale University. He is the editor of Problems and Methods in the Study of Politics (with Ian Shapiro and Rogers M. Smith, 2004).