Hannah Arendt: Reflections on Violence (1969)
Arendt is the most relevant political writer of our current time, imo.<p>The final chapter of her book, &quot;Origins of Totalitarianism,&quot; was added in later editions, and it is called &quot;Ideology and Terror.&quot; Beyond criticism and explanation, I think it is a rare model with predictive power. The challenge with that book is that unless you are specifically interested in the history of antisemitism, the first 1&#x2F;3 of the book is about it, and her general theory of totalitarian movements will get lost. I recommend reading the chapters of big theory books in reverse order, as the last thing the author wrote tends to be the thing they have thought the most about and is the most refined idea. (chapter is at: <a href="http:&#x2F;&#x2F;virtuallaboratory.colorado.edu&#x2F;Origins&#x2F;class readings&#x2F;Hannah Arendt - Ideology and Terror.pdf" rel="nofollow">http:&#x2F;&#x2F;virtuallaboratory.colorado.edu&#x2F;Origins&#x2F;class readin...</a>)<p>Regarding her views about violence, I suspect there may only be two true levers of political power, and these are force, and deception. Where one seems absent, the other is necessarily at work, and where one is renounced the other is tacitly advocated. When they start to form a synergistic feedback loop, you get totalitarian movements.<p>Glad to see Arendt here, hers is an important perspective.