CIVIL VIOLENCE IS MORE LIKELY WHEN ASPIRATIONS AND CAPABILITIES OF SOCIETIES AND CHANGING AND THE GAP BETWEEN THEM IS INCREASING. IT IS MORE CHARACTERISTIC OF SOCIETIES (1) IN THE MIDDLE OF THE PROCESS OF MODERNIZATION, (2) WITH RAPID RATES OF SOCIAL-ECONOMIC MODERNIZATION, (3< WHERE THE RATES OF SOCIAL MOBILIZATION EXCEED THOSE OF ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT AND (4) WHERE CAPABILITIES PRODUCED BY MODERNIZATION ARE DISTRIBUTED UNEVENLY. IN TODAY'S DEVELOPING WORLD, VIOLENCE ASSUMES ONE OF THREE FORMS: PRAETORIAN OR GROUP VIOLENCE TO ACHIEVE SPECIFIC ENDS; COMMUNAL VIOLENCE WHERE ETHNIC, RELIGIOUS, OR RACIAL GROUPS CHALLENGE THE SCOPE OF THE POLITICAL SYSTEM; AND REVOLUTIONARY VIOLENCE INVOLVING RAPID, FUNDAMENTAL, AND VIOLENT CHANGE AGAINST A SYSTEM. MODERNIZATION WOULD SEEM LIKELY TO PRODUCE INCREASING ANARCHY OR REPRESSION IN SOCIETIES CHARACTERIZED BY PRAETORIAN VIOLENCE AND TO REDUCE THE PROBABILITY OF REVOLUTION INVOLVING THE PEASANTRY AND URBAN MIDDLE CLASS. INSTEAD IT OPENS THE POSSIBILITY OF A NEW STYLE OF URBAN REVOLUTION AND STIMULATES FURTHER COMMUNAL VIOLENCE. THE RESULT IS A WORLD WITHOUT SECURITY, TRUST, OR HOPE. CIVIL VIOLENCE DOES NOT PRODUCE DEVELOPMENT AND CAN HAVE ONLY A DELETERIOUS EFFECT ON SOCIOECONOMIC GROWTH. FOOTNOTES ARE GIVEN. (MJW)