Starting with the early modern period, this course will survey political theories of violence to unsettle the idea that the state has a monopoly on the legitimate use of force. By reading theorists of police violence, sexual violence, and environmental violence, we will critically explore the problem of gratuitous and excessive state violence. We will also consider the possibilities and limitations inherent in the exercise of violence as a political tactic of anticolonial, feminist, and antifascist resistance. Authors include Max Weber, Hannah Arendt, Frantz Fanon, Elsa Dorlin, and Andreas Malm. The course will raise the following questions: What is violence? What does violence do? How is violence related to politics? When, if ever, is the use of violence justified? And why do we see some forms of violence as justified, while others appear illegitimate?