Abstract
Fear can be used as an instrument of political repression. The purpose for using it is to target those whose actions or ideas pose a threat to established arrangements of power and authority. Repression is not aimed at ensuring laws are followed but that the powerful are obeyed. There has been a strong consensus among experts about the type of political structure that arouses repressive fear: a centralized unified state monopolizing the means of coercion. However, this is an over-simplification. The state is not the only entity capable of wielding the repressive powers of fear.
Recommended Citation
Corey Robin,
Fragmented State, Pluralist Society: How Liberal Institutions Promote Fear,
69 Mo. L. Rev.
(2004)
Available at: https://scholarship.law.missouri.edu/mlr/vol69/iss4/11