Social Movements, Political Violence, and the State: A Comparative Analysis of Italy and Germany

by Donatella Della Porta

• ISBN13: 9780521473965
• ISBN10: 0521473969
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 1995-09-29
• Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Summary

This book presents empirical research on the nature and structure of political violence. While most studies of social movements focus on single-nation studies, Donatella della Porta uses a comparative research design to analyze movements in two countries--Italy and Germany--from the 1960s to the 1990s. Through extensive use of official documents and in-depth interviews, della Porta is able to explain the actors' construction of external political reality, and to build a theory on political violence that synthesizes the various interactions among political actors.

Table of Contents

Preface

1. Comparative research on political violence

2. Protest and violence in Italy and Germany: a periodization

3. Violence and the political system: the policing of protest

4. Organizational processes and violence in social movements

5. The 'logic' of underground organisations

6. Patterns of radicalization in political activism

7. Individual commitment in the underground

8. Social movements, political violence and the state

A conclusion.