The Lingering Costs of Violence
By
Adis Duderija, New Age Islam
15 January
2024
Violence May Defeat Enemies In The Present, It
Sows The Seeds Of Radicalization, Social Disintegration, And Deep Polarization
That Gestate Over Time Into Renewed Instability. By Examining Three
“Second-Order Effects” - The Radicalizing Impact On Political Factions, Erosion
Of Social Cohesion, And Closing Of The Policy Space - We Can Better Understand
How War Perpetuates Itself By Weakening Societal Structures Crucial For Durable
Peace.
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Armed
conflicts can ,at times, be justified as necessary means to resolve immediate
conflicts and threats, but it is important to recognize that their impacts
ripple well beyond the formal cessation of hostilities, undermining future
peace in subtle yet profound ways. While violence may defeat enemies in the
present, it sows the seeds of radicalization, social disintegration, and deep
polarization that gestate over time into renewed instability. By examining
three “second-order effects” - the radicalizing impact on political factions,
erosion of social cohesion, and closing of the policy space - we can better
understand how war perpetuates itself by weakening societal structures crucial
for durable peace.
Nonviolence,
though riskier initially, may disrupt this generational embedding of conflict
and rejectionism by obstructing violence from corrupting community ties and the
political sphere.
One
pernicious second-order effect is the tendency of war to empower radical
elements while sidelining moderates who advocate compromise and diplomacy. As
fighting persists without resolution, wavering segments of communities lose
faith in the possibility of nonviolent solutions and see militancy as the only
“realism” left. Gradually, extremists come to dominate discourse by framing
alternatives as cowardice or betrayal rather than thoughtful attempts to
reconcile all sides. Branding moderates this way allows radicals to consolidate
support from those despairing of change through lawful participation. This
dynamic transforms fringe movements into entrenched forces commanding devoted
followings that persist far beyond initial triggers through multi-generational
indoctrination of the disaffected young.
Socially
isolated youth traumatized by loss and hopelessness during conflict’s longevity
find radical groups offer purpose, empowerment and clear answers amid turmoil
that disrupted their coming-of-age. Not yet settled into permanent roles and
still grappling with identity, these volatile ages develop formative political
worldviews during upheavals that violence exacerbates. For them, uncompromising
militant ideologies supplant fractured communities as sources of belonging and
guidance. Thus does war intergenerationally perpetuate radicalism by
redirecting socialization of successive youth cohorts toward radicalization and
away from modes of community and cooperation necessary for stable societies. It
transforms a cohort now too into a generational wellspring for rejectionist
doctrines.
At a deeper
structural level, conflict devastates the very social fabric on which
communities depend by destroying personal bonds of trust between neighbors who
were once interdependent. Lingering fears and fractured relations born of
sudden estrangement poison reconciliation even long after direct fighting ends.
This
fragmentation of what Robert Putnam terms “social capital” - the dense weave of
rapport and reciprocal goodwill vital for cooperation - occurs at a microscopic
scale between individuals as well as macroscopic levels. At both, the wreckage
of intra-communal networks weakens the relational infrastructure crucial to
reconstituting stable, cooperative relations when animosity ebbs. Conflict
polarized populations grow too estranged psychologically and politically to
rebuild on bases of shared citizenship through inclusive programs. Societal
trauma lingers psychologically through experiences that corrode willingness to
compromise.
Similarly,
as strategic calculations polarize amid fighting, participants find less space
for cooperative solutions addressing roots of marginalization fueling violence
in the first place. Moderation loses platforms while militancy dominates
fragmented political spaces. This closing of cooperative avenues for preventive
approaches precludes mutually satisfactory postwar transitions emphasizing
inclusion and joint problem-solving. Societies polarized internally as well as
externally vis-à-vis international actors become too divided - psychologically
traumatized as well as politically polarized - to reconstitute on foundations
of shared prosperity and citizenship when violence displaces diplomacy. Postwar
assistance models promoting peace through cooperation find barren ground.
While force
resolves near-term battles, its impacts gestate over time through a generational
radicalizing of successive cohorts, corrosion of social cohesion, and
preclusion of reconciliation-centered politics. By embedding conflict
psychologically within populations as well as structurally across political
systems, war breeds future conflict itself through second-order deformations of
the very social fabric that makes peace possible. A holistic, preventive model
prioritizing societal resilience through cooperative diplomacy merits support
over temporary victories that generate deeply detrimental consequences impeding
stability once guns fall silent. Thus while force conquers present foes,
nonviolence may obstruct destructive radicalization, social fissuring and
closed policy spaces from taking root, preempting wars by preventing their generational
perpetuation through corrosive second-order effects.
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A decades old patron of New Age Islam, Dr Adis
Duderija is a Senior Lecturer in the Study of Islam and Society, School of
Humanities, Languages and Social Science; Senior Fellow Centre for Interfaith
and Intercultural Dialogue, Griffith University | Nathan | Queensland |
Australia. His forthcoming books are ( co-edited)- Shame, Modesty, and Honor in Islam and Interfaith Engagement Beyond the
Divide (Springer)
URL: https://newageislam.com/spiritual-meditations/lingering-costs-violence/d/131517
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