Political assassinations as rhetorical devices

Events and interpretations

Bibliographic Data

ID4086396
AuthorsNachman Ben-Yehuda (0000-0002-5096-4292, Hebrew University of Jerusalem, corresponding author), Nachman Ben‐yehuda
Year1990
Volume2
Issue3
Pages324-350
Publication date1990-09-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessNo
TypeARTICLE
VenueTerrorism and Political Violence (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0954-6553 • E-ISSN: 1556-1836
PublisherInforma UK Limited (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1080/09546559008427069
OpenAlexW1965352288
LanguageEN
Citations received4
References cited35

Political assassinations constitute a specific form of violence intended to take someone else's life against that person's wish. The act of killing (the ‘event') is distinguished from the cultural interpretation given to that act (the ‘rhetorical device'). The essay examines the rhetorical device as a cultural artifact to construct and interpret the deliberate serious attempt(s) to kill a specific actor for political reasons having something to do with the political position (or role) of the victim, and with the symbolic‐moral universe out of which the assassin/s act(s). This universe generates the legitimacy and justifications required for the act, which are usually presented in quasi‐legal terms although the acts are typically not the result of a fair legal procedure

Aesthetics · Epistemology · Legitimacy · Linguistics · Political science · Politics · Rhetorical device · Rhetorical question · Sociology · Wish · Anthropology · Computer Science · Crime, Deviance, and Social Control · Law · Philosophy · Psychology · Terrorism, Counterterrorism, and Political Violence · Torture, Ethics, and Law