Crises and Political Violence

In cross-national analyses of political violence, quite often political violence is equated with political instability or crises phenomena, yet no justification for such a juxtaposition is given. Consequently, our aims here will be (1) to define crises phenomena and discuss several general approaches to the study of crises, (2) to differentiate analytically between crises and political violence and show possible interrelationships between the two, and (3) to list and discuss those cross-national analyses bearing on crises phenomena, the relationships between crises and political violence, and other major theoretical variables. Finally, (4) a causal model of crises or, more precisely, legitimacy crises and other key variables will be developed (with persistence of a polity becoming the final dependent variable), and other theoretical suggestions as to the development of a cross-national crises science will be made. This chapter draws on ZIMMERMANN (1979a) where we have moved to a design-oriented theoretical synthesis, apart from emphasizing additional theoretical aspects. The focus here is still on dealing in some depth with materials important for the development of a cross-national crises science.