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4/7/11

Middle East: The Imam’s Order - by ZAFER YÖRÜK

According to Max Weber, for an entity to be a State, it must retain a monopoly on the use of violence in law enforcement within a given territory. Consequently, the main signifier of radical politics has been the engagement in “armed struggle”: radical political groups, from the Spartacists of medieval Rome to the Libyan rebels of our time, have formed armed groups to undermine the State’s monopoly on violence. This has formed a crucial aspect of their challenge against the state authority. 

A second tactic of radical political groups attempting to seize state power has been to infiltrate the state apparatus, particularly the institutions of violence, i.e. the police and military. According to a book by journalist Ahmet Şık, The Imam’s Army, this strategy has been successfully pursued by the Fethullah Gülen community in Turkey.

For more: Rudaw in English....The Happening: Latest News and Multimedia about Kurdistan, Iraq and the World - The Imam’s Order

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