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Norbert Elias and State Building After Violent Conflict

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Norbert Elias and Violence

Abstract

This chapter explores the complementarity between Norbert Elias’s figurational sociology of violence and post-conflict state-building studies. It argues that Elias’s figurational sociology is relevant to contemporary state-building studies, providing a useful framework for examining state-building efforts from the prism of civilizing processes and monopolization of violence, as well as for an exploration of the unintended consequences and peace-breaking effects of international interventions. In addition, the chapter provides important observations on the suitability of Elias’s figurational sociology for overcoming paradigmatic divisions within state-building studies, generating a post-critical sociology of peace, and rethinking the process of pacification and rejuvenation of social contract in conflict societies. This chapter thus represents one of the first attempts to align the work of Norbert Elias on violence with existing debates in peace and conflict studies.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Law and Government, Dublin City University, Dublin, Ireland

    Gëzim Visoka

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  1. Gëzim Visoka
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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Universidade Federal de São Paulo, São Paulo, Brazil

    Tatiana Savoia Landini

  2. Laurentian University, Sudbury, Ontario, Canada

    François Dépelteau

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Visoka, G. (2017). Norbert Elias and State Building After Violent Conflict. In: Landini, T., Dépelteau, F. (eds) Norbert Elias and Violence. Palgrave Macmillan, New York. https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-137-56118-3_8

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-137-56118-3_8

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  • Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, New York

  • Print ISBN: 978-1-137-56117-6

  • Online ISBN: 978-1-137-56118-3

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