On Violence

In 1969, Hannah Arendt delivered these reflections as the world watched students and governments fight each other in the streets of Paris, Chicago, Tokyo, and Berlin. Her starting point was the same question that had occupied her for twenty years: what is the relationship between violence and power? And her answer was as counterintuitive then as it remains now — that violence and power are not the same thing, that they are in fact opposed, and that violence typically signals the failure of genuine political power rather than its expression.

Arendt distinguishes carefully between power (which is collective, legitimate, and depends on consent), strength (which is individual), force (which is natural), authority (which is hierarchical), and violence (which is instrumental and always destructive of the political relationships it is used to maintain). These distinctions remain the most sophisticated framework available for thinking about political violence.

Essential Arendt in a beautiful Penguin Little Black Classic — precise, urgent, and completely contemporary. Published by Penguin.