The thesis examines some aspects of violence in Byzantium. Violence is defined as the act of inflicting physical bodily harm: torture, mutilation, and killing. The thesis considers four areas of study I which represent most facets of the political, social, and religious life in Byzantium. Chapter one examines the exercise of violence by the State in its capacity to wage war and in applying punishment prescribed by the penal law. The violence committed either for the protection or the elimination of the occupant of the imperial throne is also examined. Chapter two examines the Church's position on violence as exemplified in the provisions of the canon law, the circumstances for tolerating or rejecting it, and cases where Violence was perpetrated against ecclesiastics either from laymen or by its own members. Chapter three examines Violence exercised by the warrior saints, the stratelates, as assistant and protectors of the people, or who chastised them when the need arose. Chapter four deals with violence committed by individuals or groups within the personal and public realm. This examination establishes the argument that while violence was fundamentally rejected as inimical to the life of Christians, it was accepted as having a salutary effect when it was exercised as a deterrent in matters of discipline through the legal system, and in war.

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How do the depth of-democracy and the style of protest policing affect the level of collective violence? I will measure and test these concepts by applying them to Great Britain in I999- 2009. I will measure the level of collective violence using event analysis and quantitative indicators (violent public order offences, complaints of excessive force used by police officers, financial cost of property damage, and injuries at protest events). My findings show that collective violence generally declined over the period (the middle years were remarkably peaceful), but violence returned in the final year. Adapting Charles Tilly's theory of collective violence, I will suggest this mini-'civilising process' can be explained by both a general trend towards 'harder' policing, which in effect fortified the state monopoly in legitimate violence, and a general trend towards 'deeper' democracy, which reduced the number of protests on the streets. But, like a 'supply-side shock', the financial crisis in 2008 undermined the social democratic trend. I will argue that the long drift towards 'hard' policing and a return to collective action in 2009 led to increased collective violence. The conclusion I draw is that 'deeper' democracy is a more effective dampener of collective violence in the long-run: 'Hard' policing can reduce collective violence, but only so long as the state's own institutions of social incorporation keep it legitimate.

Throughout the 1990s, Western states, either as part of a UN force, a multinational coalition under UN authority, or a coalition of states operating without UN approval, intervened militarily in intrastate conflicts, ostensibly to protect endangered non-combatants. In spite of their military superiority and vast resources, the Western interveners were largely unsuccessful at providing protection to the populations. This thesis seeks to explain why Western states intervened in humanitarian crises throughout the 1990s in a way that failed to protect populations. Using the protection interventions in northern Iraq, Bosnia, Rwanda, and Kosovo as case studies, this thesis demonstrates that the interveners prioritised the protection of their self-interests over the protection of the endangered populations. As a result, and in spite of their humanitarian rhetoric, Western interveners protected populations only when doing so coincided with the pursuit of their self-interests. Furthermore, this thesis argues that by utilising concepts from risk theory, it is possible to reconcile the willingness of Western states to intervene in humanitarian crises with their refusal to provide adequate protection to vulnerable civilian populations. Rather than viewing these inadequate protection interventions as anomalous occurrences that defy an overarching explanatory framework, it argues that they were the logical results of the West's post-Cold War "risk" perspective. By applying key concepts derived largely from Ulrich Beck's sociological conception of a Risk Society to the population protection interventions of the 1990s, this thesis develops an explanatory framework for understanding the complex and seemingly counterproductive strategies employed by Western states. The thesis concludes that Western states were acting as risk societies and approached the interventions of the 1990s as exercises in "risk management" in which the costs required to protect populations were deemed to be disproportionately high when compared to the risks posed to Western self-interests.

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This thesis explores state-sanctioned violence used as part of law enforcement in riot control with a view to determine whether the definition of crimes against humanity under the Rome Statute effectively criminalises the use of force by state actors in riot control contexts. It analyses tensions arising from criminalising the use of lethal force against a ‘civilian population’ under the Rome Statute, while recognising the responsibility of states to enforce law and order through force, including through lethal force. The study is qualitative and uses doctrinal analysis to identify definitional gaps and paradoxes within relevant laws. It uses positivist theory and the Hobbesian concept of sovereignty to illuminate how the fusion of power, law and violence perpetuate circularity around the standards regulating state use of force in riot control situations, and how this in turn hinders specificity of culpability under article 7 of the ICC Statute. This study explores the effect of merging and applying without reflection, two prescriptive regimes; human rights and humanitarian law, within an international criminal law framework under the ICC Statute which is proscriptive and punitive. It also analyses definitional circularity under relevant national laws which are viable interpretive sources under the Rome Statute. The study concludes that article 7 is ineffective as a basis for criminalising excessive force in riot control contexts. The legal frameworks regulating use of force in these contexts, and those regulating crimes against humanity still operate in isolation and states retain a high level of discretion over the definition of national of standards of lawful force. The study argues that state parties never intended the application of crimes against humanity under the Statute to riot control contexts and that the internationalization of criminal liability for force used in internal riot situations is premature.

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Violence and alcohol place huge burdens on public health, affecting individuals, widersociety and public services. Many of the harms associated with violence and alcohol occur in nightlife settings and preventing these harms is a priority for the UK government. Increasingly, a public health approach to prevention is evident in both national and localpolicies and strategies. The use of data and evidence to understand the nature of the problem and to inform, target, monitor and evaluate preventive activities is fundamental to this approach. This thesis and supporting publications illustrate how my research has supported the public health approach to the prevention of violence and alcohol-related harms in nightlife and other settings. Health data, such as emergency department (ED) attendance data, has a key role to play in the public health approach to prevention. The submitted articles illustrate how I have developed the use of ED data through establishing an injury surveillance system to inform prevention policies, strategies and practice at local and national levels. My analyses have been used to: identify the extent of alcohol-related harms; inform a nightlife management strategy; target prevention activity in nightlife areas where harms were more prevalent; and monitor trends in violence and alcohol-related harms over time. Further, my work has informed national policy; the collection of enhanced ED data on the circumstances of an assault is now being promoted by the UK Government. Whilst routine data sources such as ED data can provide a vast array of intelligence onnightlife violence and alcohol-related harms they do not provide the level of detail necessary to illustrate patterns of alcohol consumption during a night out, individuals’ experience of harms that do not come to the attention of authorities, or the wide range of risk and protective factors associated with these harms. Primary research is crucial to developing this knowledge. Thus, through studies conducted in England and cross-nationally, my research has identified that nightlife settings are the scenes of excessive alcohol consumption with preloading a common feature. Subsequently, many nightlife patrons enter nightlife areas already drunk. Over-serving of alcohol to drunks is common. A range of harms are experienced by nightlife patrons including verbal and physical aggression, sexual molestation and excessive drunkenness. Both individual and environmental (i.e. venue) factors can increase the risks of nightlife patron involvement in alcohol-related harms. In the UK, the prevention of harms in nightlife settings has primarily focused on developing safe nightlife environments. Few interventions have been developed that aim to tackle the culture of drunkenness, risky drinking behaviours (e.g. preloading) and the over service of alcohol to drunks that have been evidenced in my studies. With the links between alcohol and harms, such as violence, being well established, addressing the culture of drunkenness within nightlife settings has to be a key public health priority. Both primary research and analyses of routine data sources can support this approach by identifying at-risk communities where primary prevention interventions should best be targeted.