This is a nash equilibrium situation. When only one side largely commits the violence, they gain big political advantages. Eventually, the other side joins in.

This is a nash equilibrium situation. When only one side largely commits the violence, they gain big political advantages. Eventually, the other side joins in. the result is a bad situation but the amount of violence is what leads to a compromise, the fear of returning to that violence is the new social contract. Eventually, people who remember that cycle die out, and new people repeat