The Moral Legitimacy of Anger.

Source: (2008) European Journal of Social Theory 11(3): 299–314.

This article seeks to contest the frequently repeated assertion that anger
poses the greatest threat to transitional societies moving from authoritarianism
to democracy. Against suggestions that victims of past injustices should
forswear their ‘negative emotions’ lest they spark a renewed cycle of violence,
it argues that it is important to recognize the moral legitimacy of their
anger. While anger is notoriously (though contestably) vulnerable to excess
and needs to be moderated in reference to shared norms of reasonableness,
it represents an appropriate response to wilful harm and needs to be
afforded a central role in any conception of justice. (author’s abstract)