New Books in Political Science James Greenwood-Reeves, "Justifying Violent Protest: Law and Morality in Democratic States" (Routledge, 2023)
Jan 4, 2026
James Greenwood-Reeves, a law lecturer at the University of Leeds and author of 'Justifying Violent Protest,' dives into the complex morality behind protest violence. He tackles pressing questions surrounding events like January 6th and movements such as Extinction Rebellion and Black Lives Matter, arguing that in cases of unjust laws, violence can serve as a legitimate form of civil disobedience. He explores how constitutional morality and state legitimacy interact with citizens' rights to protest, sparking a vital discourse on the role of violence in liberal democracies.
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Origins: Ferguson To Capitol Riot
- Greenwood-Reeves cites Ferguson, Hong Kong, and Gilets Jaunes as catalytic moments for studying violent protest.
- He began with Ferguson and later rounded his project off as events like the US Capitol riot occurred.
Violence Is Contested And Contextual
- Violence is an essentially contested social concept without fixed objective boundaries, spanning harm to persons, property, and emerging domains like data.
- Assess violent acts by how much they deprive liberty and coerce others rather than by rigid labels alone.
Paradigms Over Hard Definitions
- Adopt a paradigmatic approach: some acts lie closer to a violence 'paradigm' (physical harm) while others lie further (milkshakeing a politician).
- Moral evaluation should focus on coercion and liberty loss rather than binary violent/not-violent tags.
