SOCI 4444 Lecture Notes - Lecture 6: Al-Qaeda
Document Summary
Revolution is a mass uprising of people who use violence to overthrow existing political leaders and install a new government. Civil war is the military mobilization of at least two large segments of the population in a society and their use of violence against each other. Terrorism is deliberate violence against not just government targets but against broader segments of the population as well. A group has to have the number of people needed, the resources needed to fight (weapons, tanks, transportation and money). Military superiority is not sufficient to win a war. You have to be able to win the hearts and minds of the people". Law of complimentary opposition: the conflict leads each side to centralize leadership, repress deviance and organize people into hierarchal positions to assure that coordination and control operate effectively. Once the parties are so organized violence usually escalates. Great power wars like world war one and two.
