Violence and Power: A Critique of Hannah Arendt on the 'Political'

In contrast to political realism’s equation of the ‘political’ with domination, Hannah Arendt understood the ‘political’ as a relation of friendship utterly opposed to the use of violence. This article offers a critique of that understanding. It becomes clear that Arendt’s challenge to realism, as exemplified by Max Weber, succeeds on account of a dubious redefinition of the ‘political’ that is the reverse image of the one-sided vision of politics she had hoped to contest. Questioning this paradoxical turn leads to a critique of Arendt’s separation of violence and power and, consequently, her attempt to insulate a politics of friendship from one of hostility and coercion. However, political realism is not thereby affirmed. What is required, instead, is a view of the ‘political’ that accepts the interwovenness of violence and power but also emphasizes the normative ideals of moderation and care.