561 José María Santé Abal How to prevent social conflicts from becoming armed conflicts Pye,88 Edward Shils89 and Clifford Geertz90 maintain that it is social change that causes violence because of the sense of insecurity attributed to this change It is possible that both standpoints are correct, and that circumstances determine this order in every conflict. Indirect violence thus requires disturbances, which are replicated by others in a succession leading to other manifestations of indirect violence. Irrespective of the debate as to which comes first, it seems clear that social conflict and change are closely interlinked. Whether conflict serves as the means through which social changes are brought about, or instead is a consequence of social change,91 conflict permits new situations to be addressed, those encountered due to societal change or even problems that were thus far not tackled for various reasons,92 if rules governing competition do not exist, thereby entailing recourse to direct violence. When conflict is contained within acceptable bounds there is development. If it oversteps the mark, this breeds revolution and the direct violence associated therewith.93 Although we should not tolerate the use of direct force to resolve a conflict, since we would be accepting that the end justifies the means, we must concede that over the course of history, there have been cases in which direct violence has been one of the few credible alternatives available in the face of the structural violence within a system devoid of mechanisms that would have allowed it to evolve. The debate about the legitimacy of direct violence as a means to defeat indirect violence is a long-standing one.94 Violence is the solution that requires least ingenuity and which wreaks the most misery for many, detached from calls for change and with the social design that prevents it. For theorists of violent revolution such as Lenin, Mao and Debray, the shortest distance between two points may be organised violence in certain circumstances.95 These theories rest upon the argument promoting the benefit for the group as supposed 88 PYE, Lucian. Guerilla communism and Malaya, Princeton 1956; Politics, personality and Nation Building: Burma´s search for identity New Haven, 1962; Aspects of political development Boston 1966; and PYE, Lucian and VERBA, Sidney. Political culture and political development Princeton 1965 apud KHAN. Opus cit. p 206. 89 SHILS, Edward. Torments of secrecy Glencoe 1956 p 111; Political development in the new states New York 1962 apud KHAN Opus cit. p 206. 90 GEETZ, Clifford. (dir.) Old societies and new states: the quest for modernity in Asia and Africa New York, 1963 apud KHAN. Opus cit. p 206. 91 FRAGA IRIBARNE. Opus cit. p 21. 92 FREUND. Opus cit. p 77. 93 FRAGA IRIBARNE. Opus cit. p 21. 94 MERTENS. Opus cit. 241-42. 95 BIENEN. Opus cit. p 46 apud KHAN Opus cit. p 205. http://revista.ieee.es/index.php/ieee
REVISTA IEEE 5
To see the actual publication please follow the link above