Why the Normalization of Political Violence Changes Everything

Our Own Worst Enemies details how violent populism threatens American democracy, and how the solution is at the center of the political spectrum.

By Sarah Steimer

Robert Pape thinks we should be worried. 

His latest book, Our Own Worst Enemies: America and the Age of Violent Populism walks readers through more than five years of research, surveys, and analysis that illustrate just how normalized political violence has become in the U.S. — and why we need to act fast to turn things around. The tone of the book is, understandably, urgent.

“Once you come to see that there are tens of millions of Americans that support political violence, that changes everything,” says the professor of Political Science and director of the Chicago Project on Security and Threats (CPOST). “And that's why the main argument in the book is that the greatest threat to American democracy is not from extremists; it's when millions of ordinary citizens conclude that political violence is justified. … They exist on both sides of the political spectrum, and that fact changes everything.”

A scholar of international political violence, Pape’s interest in American political violence was ignited around April 2020, the beginning of the COVID pandemic lockdown and the transition to Zoom classes. In his Strategy course, Pape added a day on the impact of COVID and international politics influenced by the work of UChicago historian William H. McNeill on pandemics. Pandemics have enormous consequences for social and political dynamics, as it can spark fragmentation, atomization, and fear of each other, Pape explains. Anti-lockdown protests erupted throughout the country, with armed protesters entering the Michigan State House in early May. 

When the murder of George Floyd sparked nation-wide protests later that same month, Pape saw his hypothesized concerns occurring in real time, prompting him to refocus his research.  He wanted to understand the use of force by both protestors and police, their interactions, crimes committed, and more. Then, in January 2021, the Capitol insurrection rerouted the researchers’ attention yet again. Comparing the scope and drivers of political violence across the ideological spectrum, Pape saw how mainstream political violence had become, describing it as an “era of violent populism.” Over the next few years, CPOST would run 20 nationally representative surveys to understand and track support for political violence in the United States.

“This is a process of research, discovery of theory, and then testing of theory, and that is a standard scholarly process that is occurring,” Pape says — but this work was done at an unusually urgent speed. He emphasizes that the ability of his research team at CPOST to react quickly and take the nation’s pulse came from institutional support. “I don't think this could have happened really anywhere else, and so I have a lot of reason to be very thankful and to be very proud of the University of Chicago.”

Why has political violence become normalized in America today? Where is the country headed, and what can be done about it? Answering these questions is at the heart of Our Own Worst Enemies. The book is broken into two parts. The first lays out the logic and evidence for violent populism, detailing the rise of political violence across both sides of the political spectrum and negating assumptions that a finger can be pointed at one side or the other. Pape lays out the theory of social change at the root of violent populism in America and explains how demographic change and economic inequality combine to fracture society, fuel support for political violence, and undermine government legitimacy.

The second part of the book dives into case studies of political violence, including chapters tracing violent populism in American today and throughout history on both the left and the right — “We have lots of violent symbolism on both sides of the aisle, and both sides have their own political and media figures who use the violent symbolism,” Pape says. Cases include violence on the left during the Black Lives Matter protests and campus unrest after the Gaza War began on October 7, 2023, along with the January 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol in 2021 on the right. Further chapters provide historical context of American political violence, from the Ku Klux Klan in the 1920s to the upheavals in 1960s related to racial equality, opposition to war, and resistance to state coercion. Readers are then brought back to the present with what’s occurred since Trump has taken office again: the conflict over Immigration and Customs Enforcement operations and the fracturing of the American identity. (To note: the book was finalized prior to the ICE killings in Minneapolis this winter.)

Our Own Worst Enemies concludes with a description of how America could lose its democracy not by sleepwalking its way to authoritarianism, but through the process of rising political violence that makes it normal. Pape calls the process the “legitimacy shock cycle.” In that, the increase in political violence is happening in a series of cycles that ratchet upward, step back briefly, and then upward again, rather than a linear escalation.

“When the state itself grabs power, it seems less radical because it's happening in an environment of political violence itself,” Pape explains. “That is why I am very worried about the upcoming midterm elections, because we have the rising tide of normalization of political violence. The Iran war has made all this worse, and what that rising tide does is fracture legitimacy, how Americans think about their government using force.”

Social change is outpacing the ability of America’s political institutions to adapt, "and we've seen this before,” Pape says. But he notes that violent populism in the 1920s and 1960s came to an end because those institutions did change. As for adaptations today, he says politicians need to win far larger majorities, which diminishes the possibility of political violence after an election. And if citizens can knock back the legitimacy shock cycle by overwhelmingly electing a politician, it’s an incredibly valuable step in defending democracy.

“Yes, there are things that Americans can do here, but it is a real challenge if we're forcing the center to choose between ever more increasingly radical wings,” he says. “The solution is in the center, and it's because the center is where they don't think political violence is acceptable. Over 70% of Americans, sometimes 75%, think political violence is unacceptable, but they're having a hard time getting a voice because they're getting drowned out by the more radical wings on both sides.”