Why is political violence making a comeback in the world’s most established democracies? From the storming of the U.S. Capitol in 2021 to riots in Brazil in 2023 and extremist attacks across Europe, violence is again being used to achieve political goals. In this episode Prof. Patrick M Kuhn digs into the paradox at the heart of democracy: why systems built on peaceful disagreement are seeing rising levels of aggression. Drawing on new political science research, he unpacks how polarization, populism, and elite manipulation can fuel unrest—and what the effects of violence are for democratic politics.

To learn more about Patrick Kuhn and his research visite his website (https://www.durham.ac.uk/staff/p-m-kuhn/) and the website on 19th-century election violence in England and Wales (https://victorianelectionviolence.uk/).

In season 2, episode 1 of this podcast we compared nd contrasted the aftermath of the 2021 riots in the U.S. with those in early 2023 in Brazil and asked what this might tell us about the state of democracy in those countries. You can listen to this episode at https://open.spotify.com/episode/147cTxqUlNzAUileQDIUFI

Bibliography:

Blaxill, L., Cohen, G., Hutchison, G., Kuhn, P. M., & Vivyan, N. (2025). Electoral violence in England and Wales, 1832–1914. Past & Present, 267(1), 154–210. https://doi.org/10.1093/pastj/gtae017

Daxecker, U. E., Prasad, N., & Ruggeri, A. (2025). Political violence in democracies: An introduction. Journal of Peace Research, 62(5), 1363–1375. https://doi.org/10.1177/0022343324123456 

Mares, I. (2022). Protecting the ballot: How first-wave democracies ended electoral corruption. Princeton University Press.

Nieburg, H. L. (1969). Political violence: The behavioral process. St. Martin’s Press.

Music: The Good News by SHANTI from https://tunetank.com/track/263-the-good-news/