{"id":315985,"date":"2026-05-11T12:00:34","date_gmt":"2026-05-11T11:00:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/?p=315985"},"modified":"2026-05-10T20:01:24","modified_gmt":"2026-05-10T19:01:24","slug":"the-global-epidemic-of-violence-in-an-age-of-impunity","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/2026\/05\/the-global-epidemic-of-violence-in-an-age-of-impunity\/","title":{"rendered":"The Global Epidemic of Violence in an Age of Impunity"},"content":{"rendered":"
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(Image by Depositphotos)<\/p><\/div>\n

10 May 2026\u00a0–Global violence today is metastasizing, not contained; over 180,000 violent events reported globally by the International Institute for Strategic Studies signal a world in which violent conflict has become a baseline condition rather than an exception. More than 130 armed conflicts now rage\u2014over twice the number of 15 years ago\u2014shattering infrastructure, tearing apart social fabric, and normalizing dehumanization as a political weapon. Women and children bear the brunt: hundreds of millions live within range of armed clashes, with millions of preventable deaths and lifelong trauma caused not only by bullets and bombs but by hunger, disease, and gender-based violence unleashed by war\u2019s chaos.<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Yet the UN system and the world\u2019s democracies appear increasingly paralyzed\u2014trapped in vetoes, geopolitical rivalries, and hollow declarations\u2014offering gestures of concern rather than the coordinated, enforced accountability this modern plague of violence so desperately demands.<\/p>\n

The global escalation of violence is a structural crisis rather than an aberration\u2014one that reveals the failure of international institutions, exposing the normalization of suffering across political, economic, and societal dimensions. The proliferation of violence signals not just an increase in armed confrontations but a breakdown in the very mechanisms meant to constrain conflict, rendering dehumanization a routine tool of power, as demonstrated in the following.<\/p>\n

The Philosophical Angle<\/strong>
\nViolence represents the collapse of legitimate political authority and the rise of impotence masquerading as force. Hannah Arendt\u2019s foundational insight remains essential: \u201cPower and violence are opposites; where the one rules absolutely, the other is absent. Violence appears where power is in jeopardy, but left to its own course, it ends in power\u2019s disappearance\u201d (On Violence, 1970).<\/p>\n

This speaks directly to today\u2019s proliferation of conflicts, which indicate not state strength but institutional failure, where violence substitutes for the consent and legitimacy governments can no longer command. The resort to violence signals the exhaustion of political dialogue and the absence of legitimate power structures capable of resolving disputes.<\/p>\n

Economic Disenfranchisement<\/strong>
\nEconomic drivers are critical accelerants of contemporary violence through resource competition, commodity exploitation, and systemic inequality. Slavoj \u017di\u017eek\u2019s concept of systemic violence captures the pervasive economic roots: \u201cTherein resides the fundamental systemic violence of capitalism, much more uncanny than the direct pre-capitalist socio-ideological violence: this violence is no longer attributable to concrete individuals and their \u2018evil\u2019 intentions, but is purely \u2018objective,\u2019 systemic, anonymous.\u201d<\/p>\n

The greed-driven exploitation of natural resources\u2014from diamonds in Sierra Leone to oil in Venezuela and cobalt and other conflict minerals in the Democratic Republic of Congo\u2014finances rebellions and turns conflict into a profitable enterprise. Economic deprivation, geoeconomic confrontation through weaponized tariffs and sanctions, and commodity price shocks directly shape military capacity and conflict outcomes.<\/p>\n

The Political Compulsion of Violence<\/strong>
\nPolitical violence emerges not merely from divergent interests but from the deliberate choice to pursue objectives through coercion rather than negotiation. The paralysis of the UNSC and democratic institutions reflects what Arendt identified as bureaucratic tyranny: \u201cIn a fully developed bureaucracy, there is nobody left with whom one can argue, to whom one can present grievances, on whom the pressures of power can be exerted. \u2026 everybody is deprived of political freedom, of the power to act\u2026 where we are all equally powerless, we have a tyranny without a tyrant.\u201d<\/p>\n

This captures the international community\u2019s inability to enforce accountability\u2014vetoes and geopolitical rivalries create a structural void where violence thrives unchecked. Political fragility and weakening institutions, seen in Syria and Myanmar, make societies vulnerable to breakdown, radicalization, and violent dissent.<\/p>\n

Societal Fragmentation<\/strong>
\nSocietal conditions create climates where violence becomes normalized through inequality and the erosion of social cohesion. Thomas Hobbes\u2019s bleak assessment of unconstrained human nature remains relevant: in the state of nature, \u201cthe life of man [is] solitary, poor, nasty, brutish, and short.\u201d \u00a0While Hobbes described a pre-political condition, his insight applies to societies where governance collapses and fear dominates, conditions now afflicting millions living within range of armed clashes.<\/p>\n

Social norms that accept violence as conflict resolution, combined with economic inequalities and a lack of community participation, create environments where aggression flourishes. This normalizes dehumanization, where, as in Nigeria, Israel and South Africa, gendered violence, ethnic tensions, and historical grievances fuel recurring cycles of brutality.<\/p>\n

Nationalism, Repression and State Complicity<\/strong>
\nState-level factors amplifying violence include the failure to address ethnic marginalization, resource competition, and the absence of functional governance. Walter Benjamin warned of violence\u2019s relationship to law and state power: \u201cThere is no document of civilization which is not at the same time a document of barbarism\u201d (On the Concept of History, 1940).<\/p>\n

This observation underscores how national institutions perpetuate violence through their foundational structures and exclusionary practices. Nations repeatedly falling victim to civil and international wars demonstrate governments\u2019 inability to recognize and address destabilizing issues like political, religious, or ethnic marginalization. The weaponization of state apparatus through totalitarian mobilization of violence destroys the very space where political thinking and resistance might occur, as demonstrated in China and Eritrea.<\/p>\n

Religious Instrumentalization<\/strong>
\nReligion, when co-opted by political actors or stripped of its ethical core, becomes a potent catalyst for violence, sanctifying exclusion and legitimizing brutality. Sectarian divides\u2014whether in the Middle East, South Asia, or parts of Africa\u2014transform identity into a battlefield where compromise is heresy and annihilation becomes duty. Ren\u00e9 Girard\u2019s insight is instructive: \u201cReligion shelters us from violence just as violence seeks shelter in religion.\u201d When faith is manipulated to justify power or grievance, such as in India, Israel or Iraq, it ceases to restrain violence and instead consecrates it, deepening cycles of retribution and rendering conflicts existential rather than negotiable.<\/p>\n

The convergence of these dimensions explains why violence has become a baseline condition rather than an exception. Several measures must be considered to de-escalate global violence. Although effecting change is extremely difficult, every effort must still be made, provided the public leads the charge through sustained protest, continuous advocacy, and relentless pressure on policymakers to enact change.<\/p>\n

Reform UN Security Council Veto Power<\/strong>
\nGovernments must constrain veto authority by restricting its use in cases involving genocide, war crimes, and crimes against humanity. Permanent members should abstain when directly involved, transforming the veto from obstruction into accountability and addressing institutional paralysis that enables unchecked violence.<\/p>\n

Establish Functional Early Warning Systems<\/strong>
\nInternational bodies should implement systems linking detection to preventive action, closing the warning-response gap. These must integrate predictive analytics, local expertise, and cross-border coordination to anticipate violence months before eruption, enabling timely diplomatic and humanitarian intervention.<\/p>\n

Address Economic Inequality and Insecurity<\/strong>
\nGovernments should implement policies that reduce income inequality\u2014including wage increases, tax reform, and financial assistance\u2014aimed at addressing violence triggers. Targeted lending, job creation, and redistributive policies alleviate financial strain that fuels conflict and crime, making structural prevention more effective than reactive measures.<\/p>\n

________________________________________________<\/p>\n

Dr. Alon Ben-Meir is President of the Institute for Humanitarian Conflict Resolution.\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

Go to Original – pressenza.com<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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