Remarks on Political Violence (OPV)

Remarks on Political Violence (OPV) was founded in 2023 as a research and analytical platform specializing in the study of political violence and the delivery of analytical, advisory, and training products. We aim to raise awareness of how political violence impacts people's lives, social cohesion, business sectors, and policymaking through objective, rigorous, evidence-based analysis.
OPV is one of the arms of MB Media Consultancy Ltd, registered in London in 2023.
Our Definition

How Do We Define Political Violence?

Remarks OPV adopts a specific definition of political violence as:

The deliberate use of physical force, or the threat of it, by state or non-state actors to achieve political objectives, such as gaining power, maintaining power, or reshaping institutions and policies.

This definition is intended to understand the phenomenon as it is, without justifying it, demonizing it in advance, or forcing it into pre-made ideological interpretations. We therefore approach political violence as a complex phenomenon, not a passing event.

Context

The Problem We Address

Political violence is often treated as an emergency incident or a narrow security file, despite its real capacity to:

reshape economies and markets

influence social behavior

reorder public discourse and language

Interpreting it through narrow lenses (security, political, or propaganda-driven) produces a partial understanding and weakens institutional readiness to detect risks early and manage their compounded effects.

The Analytical Gap

With the intensity of news flows, the gap widens between the abundance of information and the need for high-density, concise analysis that speaks directly to decision-makers and business leaders. This creates a strong need for fast-paced analytical products that remain meaningful and deep, connecting incidents to their contexts and exploring potential pathways and the shifts they may trigger.

Our Foundation

Vision & Mission

Our Vision

To become a leading regional reference in the Middle East for analyzing political violence and understanding its impacts on individuals, communities, and different sectors, and to help move thinking about political violence away from emotional reactions or narrow security frameworks toward a deeper, more human-centered analytical understanding.

Our Mission

  • study the impacts of political violence on individuals, communities, and different sectors
  • provide analytical and advisory products that support political risk management
  • build the capacity of researchers, analysts, and journalists through training
  • correct prevailing misconceptions about political violence through professional, evidence-based content
Philosophy

Our Core Values

Objectivity

objectivity and intellectual independence, avoiding ideological bias

Rights

respect for human rights and refusal to normalize violations

Professionalism

professionalism through source documentation, precise terminology, and adherence to analytical standards

Who We Serve

Our Target Audience

Business Sectors
business sectors in the Middle East, and globally over time: investment, energy, logistics, insurance, travel, and supply chains
Research & Think Tanks
research and think tanks
Media Organizations
media organizations across platforms
Decision Makers
decision-makers and stakeholders responsible for risk management
Capabilities

What We Offer

Remarks Alerts

Brief snapshots of political violence incidents around the world, offering an initial reading of key signals and near-term implications, including what to monitor over the next 72 hours.

Remarks Briefs

A weekly analysis that links events to potential escalation pathways and provides: escalation pathways, monitoring indicators, an actor capability box, a sectoral risk matrix across key sectors, PDF files and a searchable archive.
Escalation PathwaysRisk MatrixPDF Archive

In Depth

Studies that unpack phenomena, actors, and contexts, develop competing evidence-based hypotheses, and conclude with actionable findings and recommendations.

Actor Profiles

Profiles of organizations, individuals, and networks covering: structure and capabilities, tactical patterns, areas of activity, linkages, trajectories of evolution with early indicators of escalation or decline.

Monitors

Regional or thematic monitoring products (Eurasia and others later) that capture shifts and trends, provide watchlists and comparative indicators, and feed the weekly briefs with data and trend insights.

Advisory Services

For companies and institutions, we provide: risk memos, impact assessments using the nine-sector methodology, stakeholder and influencer mapping, scenario-building and implementation-oriented recommendations, decision-support to translate complex environments into practical options.
Risk MemosImpact AssessmentsScenario Building

Training & Capacity Building

Training programs in: political violence analysis, political risk management, monitoring and early warning methodologies, report writing, building risk matrices and sector-based impact assessment.
AnalysisReport WritingImpact Assessment