Dr. Hendrik Simon

Associate Fellow

Foto: Peace Research Institute Frankfurt (PRIF)

How was modern violence conceptually and normatively ordered?

In my planned research project "Ordering Violence" I en­gage with the question as to what extent transformations of the terminological as well as normative order(s) of political violence can be identified in modernity (~1789 to today). In particular, this involves ordering the per­ception of violence by developing a modern genealogy of war and its justifi­cation. In this genealogy, I will recon­struct changes and continuities in the way ‘political violence’ has been conceptually and normatively ordered in mo­dernity. The aim of the research project is therefore not only to re­construct the definitions, concepts, and narratives cen­tral to this ordering process, but also discursive ruptures, continuities, and contingencies beyond a simple dichotomy of "old" and "new."

Research Area Synergies: 4.1 Language and Language Change | 4.3 Pacification or Transformation