Violence Explained

Violence, conflict and crime are a cause for concern in all societies and at all social levels. Police gaols and international forces are not providing security because dealing with one situation does not prevent others emerging. This text offers a different approach and explains how it can be used as a basis for a public policy. It argues that conflict and violence are, on the one had, the result of the denial to many of their personal needs for develpment, social recognition and identity, and, on the other, the social expectation of compliance and the means used to enforce it. Social protest, terrorism, revolution, self-appointed leaderships, ethnic conflicts, industrial strife, street gangs of unemployed youth and even some family violence can be explained within this 'structural violence'. The book examines the adversarial institutions of society and leadership, legislatures, the work-place, the legal system and the international relations system and considers what each would be like if they were designed to solve basic problems rather than contain them. -- .