Essay I Generated in a Practice

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Hey guys, I came up with this as a practice essay for the MCAT. Thoughts?

 

Violence is never a real solution to a political crisis.

 

Write a unified essay in which you accomplish the following tasks. Explain what you think the above statement means. Describe a specific situation in which violence could be considered a real solution to a political crisis. Discuss what you think determines when violence is justified in solving such a crisis.

 

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The saying goes that violence begets violence, and so it can be said that violence is never a real solution to a political crisis. Political crises are defined by issues between two or more parties and coming to a resolution of those issues. As such, substantial speaking and elaboration must occur, agreements must be reached and, sometimes, compromises and losses must be accepted. Violence, however, inherently implies damaging actions against a party with little or no regard for that party’s welfare. Essentially, violence ignores coming to an understanding of issues, and thus is a poor way to solve political crises. An example of this is a government giving the authority to police to attack citizen protestors whom are seeking better treatment from their government.

However, political crises and politics in general tend to have a large scope and can include many issues. Political crises could include dealing with threats to the security of citizens, putting down armed unrest or fending off foreign invaders. In some situations, then, a political crisis can be solved by violence. The most concrete way of seeing this is noting how nation-states retain the right to use violence to counter violent problems. In the 1980’s, for instance, Prime Minister Trudeau authorized the enforcement of streets with armed police and tactical squads to deal with Quebec separatist terrorists whom were killing politicians. These actions were a rather real solution to a political crisis which averted future deaths and maintained peace.

Violence can be a real solution to a political crisis if it fits the context in which it is being applied and if it is controlled in its scope. It is usually the case that people and institutions will use violence to defend themselves from violent attackers. Defenders should be on guard, however, that they use violence carefully so that they do not become violent attackers themselves. In a political crisis where there is no violence involved and where all parties are capable of rationally stating their objectives, though, violence is not a real solution. Violence as a political crisis solution should only be deployed in defense of security.