CHANGES IN POLITICALLY MOTIVATED VIOLENCE IN THE FEDERAL-REPUBLIC-OF-GERMANY

This contribution is concerned with changes in politically motivated violence in the Federal Republic of Germany over the last thirty years. It begins with some reflections on the politics of conceptualisation, the definition of politically motivated violence and the importance of specific forms of legitimation and group context. Following this, empirical data concerning the extent of violence, potential violence in society and violently oriented groups and environment are presented and discussed in terms of general explanatory theories (structural tension theory; theories of deprivation; rational choice theory, interaction theory). The contribution attempts to show that the sociostructural location of potentials for conflict and violence in a society and their sociostructural location of potentials for conflict and violence in a society and their sociostruktural location of potentials for conflict and violence in an society and their politico-ideological evaluation has to be empirically determined for every epoch and can not be understood without the context of problematisation and changes in social and political conflicts.