Politically motivated violence

Politically motivated violence is commonly referred to by the terms terrorism, rebellion, war, conquest, revolution, oppression, tyranny, and many others. In general, it can be defined as committing violent actions against others with the intended purpose of effecting a change in their actions. Under minarchist, true anarchist, and other forms of political thought, any action by the State is political violence.

It has been said that "violence is the last option of a desperate man." Politically motivated violence has been used throughout history to greater and lesser effect by virtually every people in existence today. The root causes of this form of violence may be traced to several fundamental factors economic stratification, moral dissociation, and/or psychological dysfunction. The validity of the reasons for the violence are often highly dependent on who is doing the judging. It is important to note that the validity, or rightness/wrongness of the violence cannot reliably be judged by affected parties. This is due not to an inherent flaw in judgement but to the competing concern for the self preservation of the ego.

See also

• Suicide bomber