Is political violence becoming normalised in modern politics? Johnston Lumley investigates
Depending on your political leaning, the recent public assassination of Charlie Kirk may have been a cause for celebration against bigotry or for further lamentation of dangerous left wing ideologies. However, for many the event in of itself exemplifies the rising trend of political violence in democratic societies.
This is worryingly not an isolated issue as all across the globe there seems to be an emerging trend of political violence. The Irish examples include the targeted attack of army chaplain Paul Murphy due to misgivings over Irish military involvement overseas and the recent threats made towards Simon Harris and his family. A very significant global example is the assasination of previous Japanese prime minister Shinzo Abe in 2022, this being especially shocking considering Japan's astonishing low rate of political risk. This emerging trend thus leaves us with many different considerations, one of which being how this differs from political violence we have seen in the past.
What these examples of modern political violence have in common is that they were committed by individuals rather than a larger more organised collective, as seen with political violence within democratic societies in the past such as the IRA in Ireland. This may reflect the shift the global political landscape has taken in recent years, particularly how deeply social media has changed the nature of political discourse.
The advent of social media has led to a rapid increase in globalisation. The speed at which information is shared has led to greater education in regards to news and current affairs. This on the surface may seem like a net positive - however, it has also led to the increased proliferation of harmful disinformation. The rate at which news and information is shared now far outstrips the ability for it to be reliably fact-checked. Also, considering how social media companies curate their platforms, using algorithms in order to dictate what you are shown based on what you have previously interacted with. This can lead to the formation of online echo chambers which may provide reinforcement of potentially dangerous preexisting beliefs.
Such political polarisation is seen within American politics, with many studies showing the sharp increase in polarisation in recent decades. This discourages dialogue and compromise between opposing viewpoints. This feature of modern politics may explain the seemingly growing tendency towards the use of violence as the other side of the political aisle is continually ‘othered.’ How will increasing political violence affect democratic systems?
Aggression towards Irish politicians is not unusual. In April of 2022, then Tánaiste Leo Varadkar called the verbal abuse that he received on the street as “just part of the gig.” The acceptance and prevalence of such behaviour is a dangerous bellwether to the direction that democracy may be heading towards. Of course politicians are rightly subject to public criticism, given the nature of their position, and it is the responsibility of the wider public to hold individuals within such positions accountable for their actions and promises. However, regardless of if your political standing can convince you that violent acts and threats are justifiable, we cannot allow ourselves to backslide and to further normalise this behaviour. Political violence fundamentally undermines democratic values of rule of law and can only discourage politicians from speaking out or acting on issues that may make them subject to such backlash.
The danger that normalised political violence poses not only affects the individuals in positions of power who are targeted but the stability of the democratic system overall. It sets a poor precedent of how we should resolve differences of opinion, not only in politics but on a wider societal level.