Citation

Kalyvas S, Straus S. Violence 2020; 1(2): 389-407.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2020, SAGE Publishing)

DOI

10.1177/2633002420972955

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

Stathis Kalyvas is one of the pioneers of social science research on political violence. In this interview with Scott Straus, Kalyvas reflects critically on the state of the field, on the risks of welding scholarly research to policy, on speaking to histories of violence in particular places, on defining key terms such as violence and terrorism, and on moving up and down the ladder of abstraction. He also speaks about his ambitious new book that seeks to synthesize the field of political violence. He ends with a stinging critique of research that privileges method over substance and with some reflections for graduate students entering the field.

Language: en

Keywords

civil war; genocide; Greek Civil War; policy-relevant research; terrorism; violence