Background: Legitimacy and Political Violence in Pre-Colonial Societies

Abstract

T. Nardin noted that: A good place to begin a discussion of political violence in terms of the context of social interaction within which it occurs is with the concept of authority. For authority in the eyes of many is what the conflict is about–whether it is the evils of authority that are cited as a justification for protest or revolt, or its breakdown which is deplored as containing the source of conflict, disorder, and violence.