What does POLITICAL VIOLENCE stand for? 

Political violence

Political violence is violence perpetrated by people or governments to achieve political goals. It can describe violence used by a state against other states (war) or against non-state actors (most notably police brutality or genocide). It can also describe politically-motivated violence by non-state actors against a state (rebellion, rioting, treason or coup d'etat) or against other non-state actors. Non-action on the part of a government can also be characterized as a form of political violence, such as refusing to alleviate famine or otherwise denying resources to politically identifiable groups within their territory. Due to the imbalances of power between state and non-state actors, political violence often takes the form of asynchronous warfare where neither side is able to directly assault the other, instead relying on tactics such as terrorism and guerrilla warfare, and often include attacks on civilian or otherwise non-combatant targets that are perceived as a proxy for the opposing faction. Many groups and individuals believe that their political systems will never respond to their demands and thus believe that violence is not only justified but also necessary in order to achieve their political objectives. Similarly, many governments around the world believe they need to use violence in order to intimidate their populace into acquiescence. At other times, governments use force in order to defend their country from outside invasion or other threats of force and to coerce other governments or conquer territory.

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