Violence comes in multiple forms & scales; it is the intentional use of physical force by a human on another human or group of humans with the intent to hurt, injure, or kill someone. A conflict is a clear and obvious opposition between people or groups. Armed conflicts are protracted confrontations between two or more groups that employ weapons. They can happen between states, between a state and a non-state actor, or non-state actors, and their intensity is measured by deaths attributed to the conflict. Large-scale engagements are major wars or civil wars and inflict national war violence. In contrast, tensions are more passive and result from long-term differences, issues, or the accumulation of events or actions (grievances) causing a division or opposition between two people or groups. A grievance is a reason to protest—whether actualized, perceived, or imagined—that accumulates, building tensions. If tensions continue without anything being done, they will escalate into a conflict that might or might not be violent or cause property destruction. One event or grievance often acts as a threshold point sparking a conflict.
Local violence occurs at the community level between groups of people (collective), individuals (interpersonal), or outside the law or formal justice (extrajudicial). They are caused by disputes or tensions between local actors and are tied to violent crime. Interpersonal violence includes murder, aggravated assault, sexual assault, domestic & familial violence, & low-level sectarian clashes. Collective violence is violence perpetrated by one group or between two or more and has a broader connotation than war or national violence: it can happen at the local, subnational, national, and international scale, although the local level is the most common manifestation of collection violence. Extrajudicial violence is violence resulting outside and unsanctioned by the legal system. It can be perpetuated by the government or law enforcement and is motivated to target influential social, economic, political, or religious leaders. It is also caused by vigilante citizens when they decided to ‘take justice into their own hands.’ It results from informal justice and is influenced by sociocultural factors and differences.
People, groups, or governments perpetuate political violence for political purposes or violence that stems from political motivations. Terrorism is a violent act by non-state actors usually against civilians to further ideological goals: political, racial, ethnic, religious, cultural, social, or environmental, but the violence is generally politically inspired. It is usually associated with specific attacks & individual events. Closely related are insurgencies or rebellions, which are more connected to long-term social or political movements that have since escalated. Terrorism is a tool used by insurgents. Terrorism is akin to a battle, and an insurgency is related to war. Terrorism, insurgencies, & rebellions usually are subnational in scale (even if they spill over international borders). Upcoming elections might cause a terrorist attack, but a repressive regime may lead to an insurgency or rebellion.
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