ABSTRACT
This chapter presents a comprehensive methodologically structured literature review of theoretical approaches towards a culture of political violence. Drawing on an original extensive set of methodological assumptions, it systematically and critically analyses current specialist literature concerning this category: its semantic fields in the shape of definitions of the theoretical category, theories using a culture of political violence as a thing to be explained, theories treating a culture of political violence as a thing explaining other things, and classification schemes of the category. In other words, it identifies a corpus of academic works released in specialist books and journals and then analyzes them in terms of methodological correctness. It allows us to evaluate to what extent the existing theoretical frameworks are correct and how they establish the scientific perception of the very nature of a culture of political violence. The discussion finishes with recommendations for the construction of a theoretical framework of the category. The review of substantive literature locates the research against the background of the body of studies on a culture of political violence. It is followed by three case study chapters which are to contribute to the field empirically.
