Chernega Vladimir Nicolaevich – ScD in Law, Extraordinary and Plenipo-tentiary Envoy, Principal Researcher INION RAN
Protest violence is a long-standing problem in France, but in recent years its relevance has increased in connection with the “yellow vests” movement, which at the initial stage shocked the country and foreign observers with violent actions. Hence a large number of publications in which French experts, relying on domestic and foreign studies, analyze this phenomenon, primarily as a political tool. The article discusses their approaches to the prob-lem, in particular, the allocation of a number of them, more or less close to Marxism, forms of immanent violence inherent in the functioning of the dominant “system” or society as a whole. It objectively contributes to the trend towards violent actions during protests, although the trigger is still specific economic, social, socio-cultural or political realities. Supporters of the “functional” school who oppose the above authors agree with the latter, but they dispute the thesis of immanent violence as an inevitable product of capital-ism and see the main reason for the accumulation of protest moods in the “dysfunction” of the state, which as a result cannot cope with ensuring social cohesion. Other experts see such a reason in the frustration that engulfs the masses due to the undermining of their social or religious identity. The article also analyzes the classification of types and forms of protest violence proposed by French authors. The question of the strategy of power in the face of this challenge is touched upon. Attention is paid to movements and groups on the extreme flanks of the political spectrum, which often see violent actions as an end in itself, and not a means to achieve some result.
protest violence, immanent violence, ”functional“ school, types and forms of violence, extreme left, extreme right
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