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Desmond King on 'American Political Violence'

24 Jan 25

Desmond King on 'American Political Violence'

The Nuffield Professorial Fellow has published the timely text of his Leonard Schapiro Public Lecture

Nuffield Professorial Fellow and Andrew W Mellon Professor of American Government Desmond King has published the text of his Leonard Schapiro Public Lecture on 'American Political Violence' in Government and Opposition (14 Jan 2025, pp.1-24, doi:10.1017/gov.2024.33). 

In the timely Open Access paper, Desmond analyses political violence in the United States political system. It was released earlier this week, on the day of the 47th US President Donald Trump’s Inauguration and his signing of pardons and clemencies for close to 1,500 rioters convicted for seditious and other behaviour in the insurrection of 6 January 2021. The action was designed to prevent the certification of Democrat Joe Biden as the 46th US President.

Desmond says:

“As Americans and the world watch convicted insurrectionists and leaders of the Oath Keepers and Proud Boys organised militias being released from jail it will be helpful analytically to understand how the system of presidential pardons works to maintain a tradition of legitimate political violence in the US which other democracies organize out of the state’s monopoly on legitimate force.”

The Government and Opposition's Leonard Schapiro Memorial Lecture is given annually in honour of British academic Leonard Schapiro, one of the journal's founding editors. Desmond originally delivered the lecture at the RSA in London in May 2023.

This story first appeared on the Oxford University Department of Politics and International Relations news pages.