The relationship between power and political violence in Hannah Arendt's political thought

As a Jew who lived in Hitler's Germany, Hannah Arendt experienced the real face of violence. Therefore, it is not possible for her to see violence as legitimate. Arendt's philosophy has developed on a ground that is based on mutual respect and free environments where everyone can express themselves. Therefore, Ancient Greek political life is a foundation that Arendt longs for. Because there, people could express themselves by talking and taking action. As a matter of fact, Arendt will define violence as speech weakness and according to her, violence is voiceless. The purpose of this study is to contextualize and analyse the relationship of violence with power and politics by starting from Hannah Arendt's conceptualization of violence. Although the theme of violence remains historically up-to-date, its relationship with the political sphere has always been the subject of debate. Arendt also discusses the theme of violence on the themes such as violence-power, violence-authority, violence-war. Because, violence has been accepted as a normal phenomenon in the modern world, it has caused formation of mass societies. In this sense, violence is perceived as the realities of life. In this context, political power's monopolization and legitimization of the violence will be examined, by grounding on Arendt's philosophical views.