Date of Award
4-1999
Degree Name
Master of Arts
Department
Political Science
First Advisor
Dr. J. Kevin Corder
Second Advisor
Dr. Peter Renstrom
Third Advisor
Dr. John Clark
Access Setting
Masters Thesis-Open Access
Abstract
Historically the study of apocalyptic groups has occupied the "exotic fringe" of political science (Flanagan 1996). With the use of textual analysis, historical description, and participant observation as its main research methods, there has been little progress made in the study of these groups. By using data analysis of incidents of violence to compare the violent actions of apocalyptic groups, a better understanding of reasons for the use of violence by these groups can be found.
Six apocalyptic groups are studied and categorized into a typology of apocalypticism. The Rescue Movement and End-Times Religious occupy the Supernatural type, Militia/Patriot and Anti-Industrial/Technology occupy the Unnatural, and the Radical Environmental and Animal Rights occupy the Natural.
Data on violence are then examined to find relations across and between groups. What emerges from this examination is support for the concept of imminence as a possible factor in determining violence. This imminence is not that of salvation (Cohn 1970) or attainment (Taylor 1991) but of the apocalypse itself.
Recommended Citation
Green, Gordon Daniel, "Political Violence in the United States: Apocalyptic Typologies of Left and Right Wing Political Groups and Their Violence through the Period 1990-1997" (1999). Masters Theses. 5018.
https://scholarworks.wmich.edu/masters_theses/5018