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Violence and Local State Formation: A Longitudinal Case Study of Appalachian Feuding

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 April 2024

Kathleen M. Blee  and
Dwight B. Billings
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Abstract

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We investigate the causes of protracted violent conflict by examining the dynamics of a so-called family feud in one Appalachian county in the 19th century. Using data from the civil and criminal court docket and sociohistorical sources, we find that protracted local violence was neither an alternative to dispute resolution through the courts nor a simple function of economic development. Rather, feud violence reflected the social and economic relations and cleavages that accompanied local state building. We discuss the implications of these findings for a historically specific understanding of the relation between local governance and protracted disputing.

Type
Articles
Information
Law & Society Review , Volume 30 , Issue 4 , 1996 , pp. 671 - 705
Copyright
Copyright © 1996 by The Law and Society Association

Footnotes

This research was funded through a grant to the authors from the Fund for Research on Dispute Resolution of the National Institute on Dispute Resolution and undertaken in collaboration with Pam Goldman, Sharon Hardesty, and Lee Hardesty. The authors thank also Laura Johnson and Jess Wilson.

References

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