Jörn Ahrens, Justus-Liebig-University Giessen, Germany Werner Binder, Masaryk University, Czech Republic Randall Collins, University of Pennsylvania, USA Marco Gerster, Konstanz University, Germany Bernhard Giesen, Konstanz University, Germany Michael Günter, Klinikum Stuttgart, Germany Jack Katz, University of California Los Angeles, USA Jan Klabbers, University of Helsinki, Finland Peter Klimczak, Brandenburg University of Technology, Germany Steffen Krämer, Brandenburg University of Technology, Germany Anne Nassauer, Freie Universität Berlin, Germany Christer Petersen, Brandenburg University of Technology, Germany Sveinung Sandberg, University of Oslo, Norway Ferdinand Sutterlüty, Goethe-Universität Frankfurt am Main, Germany Annette Vowinckel, Centre for Contemporary History, Potsdam, Germany Daniel Ziegler, Justus-Liebig-University Giessen, Germany

1. Introduction; Marco Gerster, Steffen Krämer and Daniel ZieglerPART I. DYNAMICS OF EXCESS2. Emotional Dynamics of Violent Situations; Randall Collins3. Forward Panic and Police Riots; Anne Nassauer4. What the Situation Explains: On Riotous Violence; Ferdinand Sutterlüty5. Violence and Emotion; Bernhard Giesen6. Neo-Fascist Heroes: Group Identity and Idealisation of the Aggressor in Violent Right-wing Adolescents; Michael Günter7. Intimate Massacres: Next Steps Toward a Causal Explanation; Jack KatzPART II. DISCOURSE AND IMAGINATION8. German Rampage: Social Discourse and the Emergence of a Disturbing Phenomenon; Jörn Ahrens9. Amok - Framing Discourses on Political Violence by Means of Symbolic Logic; Peter Klimczak and Christer Petersen10. Terrorism as Cultural Bricolage - The Case of Anders Behring Breivik; Sveinung Sandberg11. Tales of Abuse and Torture. The Narrative Framing of the Abu Ghraib Photographs; Werner Binder12. The (Relative) Absence of Torture in Documentary Photography; Annette Vowinckel13. Off Limits? International Law and the Excessive Use of Force; Jan Klabbers

This book explores the dynamics of excessive violence, using a broad range of interdisciplinary case studies. It highlights that excessive violence depends on various contingencies and is not always the outcome of rational decision making. The contributors also analyse the discursive framing of acts of excessive violence.