Bottom-up political violence CDSN4002 POLITICAL VIOLENCE MIRIAM MATEJOVA, PHD MARCH 18, 2024 Agenda  How is collective action linked to political violence? Collective action  Any goal-oriented activity that involves two or more individuals  Joint action and pursuit of a common goal Grievances  Grievance: a feeling of being wronged  Can be political, economic, religious, territorial, ethnic, etc., but often overlap  Political: seeking to overthrow the government or reform  Economic: seeking to force the government to adopt a different economic policy or address an economic grievance  Territorial: fight for autonomy or independence Grievances and relative deprivation  Loss or inadequate access to something that one thinks they are entitled to  Absolute deprivation (i.e., poverty) may change over time but relative deprivation doesn’t as long as there is lasting social inequality and some are better off than others Relative deprivation critique  Grievances are an inherent part of societies  Cannot explain why some people with grievances don’t act (i.e., don’t’ join social movements) Teória mobilizácie zdrojov  Resources are critical for success of social movements  explains why some people with grievances can create movements  Resources can be knowledge, money, media, solidarity, legitimacy, as well as internal and external support from elites  Social movements come to being when individuals with grievances are able to mobilize enough resources for action Resource mobilization Political opportunity structures  Political opportunities and constraints  Opportunity to take action is given by the structure of the society Discussion  When do movements become violent?  What is the role of violence in social movements? Violent vs non-violent movements  "Non-violent resistance is a civilian-based method used to wage conflict through social, psychological, economic, and political means without the threat or use of violence“ (Chenoweth and Stepan 2012)  Are nonviolent campaigns more effective than violent ones? Effectiveness of non-violent campaigns  Non-violent campaigns have a much higher success rate  Two reasons:  Backlashes against the government  Openness to negotiation Discussion  Does political violence work? If so, when and how?  What are the political impacts of violence?