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Varieties of Instability: a Theoretical and Methodological Critique

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  11 November 2008

A. Rashid Moten
A. Rashid Moten
Affiliation:
Lecturer in Political Science, Bayero University, Kano, andUniversity of Chittagong, Bangladesh
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Extract

It is reasonable to assume that violence is a common recurring condition in all parts of the world, during all periods of history, and at all stages of social development. Yet there is not a single, compelling theory that specifies, even crudely, a comprehensive causal model of political violence.1 The reason, as C. N. Cnudde points out, is ‘that the processes which bring about change in a unit as vast as a nation are much more complex than any single theory predicts’.2 This complexity of the process has not, however, hindered the growth of scholarly literature. On the contrary, social scientists, despite certain theoretical and methodological difficulties, have subjected this relatively uncharted area to further exploration.

Type
Africana
Information
The Journal of Modern African Studies , Volume 17 , Issue 4 , December 1979 , pp. 703 - 709
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1979

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References

page 703 note 1 Throughout this critique, ‘political violence’ has been used as a meta-concept – a comprehensive, generic type of concept.

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