What is Butler’s criticism of ‘self-defence’ as justified violence?What is the definition of ‘political violence’ that Fernando Coronil and Julie Skurski work with in their Introduction to States of Violence?

UESTIONS FOR DISCUSSION
• What are the different possible definitions of violence? What about ‘political’
violence?
• What is the definition of ‘political violence’ that Fernando Coronil and Julie
Skurski work with in their Introduction to States of Violence?
• Why is the relationship between power and ‘violence’?
• What is Butler’s criticism of ‘self-defence’ as justified violence?
• What do Coronil and Skursi mean when they write: ‘the rhetoric of violence is
thus inseparable from the violence of rhetoric’ ?
• When political activists and leaders contemplate the question of violence, they
usually do so in terms of the congruence between means and ends. How do
the texts you have read for this week theorise the instrumentality of violence?
What are some of the justifications and critiques of violence they offer?
• How does Arendt differentiate power, strength, force, authority, and violence?
What are her respective definitions of these terms? Do they make sense to
you?
• What is the distinction that Nelson Mandela makes between terrorism and the
type of violence that Umkhonto we Sizwe resorted to?
Do you agree with this difference?
• How does Nelson Mandela’s explanation of the movement’s recourse to
violence as “responsible leadership” compare to Arendt’s view that ‘power and
violence are opposites’?