Introduction

This chapter discusses about political violence in the Kurdish space of Turkey. One of the most democratic countries of the Middle East, Turkey paradoxically went through one of the most enduring processes of political violence in the region. The chapter explores different theories that serve to study political violence. It is possible to study political violence based on three categories: social movement, conflict, and war or terrorism approaches. The chapter displays the theoretical tools of this book and serves question with regard to political violence. The idea of social movement has progressed as opposed to an approach of collective behavior which regarded mobilization as a reaction to a situation and reduced human actions to social change. The three approaches, resource mobilization, political process model and the structure of political opportunities, marked the field of social movement. The chapter distinguishes the model of strategic and/or organizational interaction, a cognitive approach and an identity paradigm.