State vs. Non-State Essays

State vs. Non-State Essays State vs. Non-State Essay State vs. Non-State Essay State vs. Non-State When considering the use of violence and non-violence throughout history, or at least in the last 200 years, the term Manifest Destiny comes to mind. Although it is not in itself a violent or for that matter a non-violent action, the idea of Manifest Destiny gave Americans the attitude of Gods will for westward expansion which in turn lead to the violent relocation of the Native Americans, or First Peoples. Through laws, being the non-violent action of relocation, and war on the First Peoples being the violent means to an end. This is not the only idea throughout this time period, ountries throughout the world were all going through change and not all of the changes for the better and not all the changes were made by the state. In 1917, in Russia, the people were getting fed up with the Czars ungodly rule over them. This came to a head during the March Revolution; 90,000 textile workers went on strike during the middle of World War I protesting the shortage of fuel and bread, by the end of the week there was a totally 400,000 striking with signs of Down with the Tsar and Down with the War. The state or in this case the tsar banned protesting and ent in the army to shoot the protesters. This use of violence back fired when the army turned on their officers and Joined in on the protesting, demanding an end to the war. This Revolution led to the downfall of the Tsar, using both violent and non- violent means and involving both the state and non-state peoples. Another form of mass state actors is the formation of the League of Nations in an attempt to secure world peace or at least maintain some form of order throughout the world. This would eventually lead to more violence and then breakdown all together and turning nto the United Nations. The greatest person in History, or at the least the most well known, to do with non-violence would be Gandhi. His idea of satyagraha says in all in the sense of striving for truth and social Justice through love, suffering, and conversion of the oppressor. Gandhi used these ideas in his organization of a mass non-violent resistance campaign against the restriction of Asian immigration and internal freedom of movement in South Africa. Thousands of Indian men and women marched peacefully and all the while withstood beatings, arrest, and imprisonments. Although Gandhi is the leader of South Africa, one could almost call his peaceful campaign a campaign from the non-state actors as they were resisting a higher government, Gandhi was simply the face of the body. A solid idea of state actors using violence and non-violence to get their way would be Mussolinis Black Shirts and their attempt and success in ridding the country of Spain of socialist buy destroying their newspapers and headquarters. Mussolini used their form of chaos to step forward as the countries savior and became a leading fgure in World War II on the Axis side of power. Hitler was also another clever man in his use of non- violence, surprising I know. Hitler would use his elegant speeches to sway the minds of the Germans and convince them that everything he goes to do is in their interest. Using his control over their thoughts, in a manner of speaking, he would push through laws such as Enabling Act that gave him dictatorial power for the next four years. Non-violent to the core, but this kind of power cannot be held without violence. actors, which are famous for their extreme use of violence to an end. They were ordered to arrest and shoot without trail about thousand long-time Nazi storm roopers, this led to army leaders throughout Germany to swear total obedience to Hitler. Past the state actors are famous non-state actors such as Lech Walesa and the Solidarity movement. This movement by non-state actors was an attempt to for increased rights for workers and a new political reform. Walesa and the rest of his group used their power, despite being outlawed by the Communist, to bring about a free election in 1989 and this eventually led to the Fall of the Berlin Wall. Non- violence eventually prevailed in Europe and the end of the Cold War followed soon after.