Tactics of Repression and Dissent in Jerusalem

• In Event: Repression and Dissent Revisited

Abstract

Do individual actors have the power to derail conflict dynamics, and influence patterns of violence? Many studies of ethnic conflicts and repression consider violence as an intergroup dynamic, entailing ongoing interactions between diverse actors including incumbent states, rebel groups, protesters and oppressed minorities. Shifts in patterns of violence, are often considered to be driven by strategic, practical or ideological motivations. However, at times independent actors, commit uncoordinated and unexpected attacks which fundamentally influence dynamics of conflict. Analyzing geo-located police data from Jerusalem, and exploiting what was an unexpected, and perhaps exogenous shock to intergroup relations in the city, we demonstrate how individual actors can radically shift conflict dynamics. Doing so, we show how the kidnapping and vicious murder in July 2014 of Mohamad Abu Hdeir, a young Palestinian resident of Jerusalem, influenced the prevalence, location and types of violence implemented by residents of one of the most contested cities in the world. Our evidence calls for a new understanding of conflict dynamics, which pays close attention not only to organized groups implementing different forms of violence, repression and resistance, but also to individual entrepreneurs which can change conflict trajectories independently.

Authors

• Evgeny Finkel, Johns Hopkins SAIS

• Yonatan Lupu, George Washington University

• Dan Miodownik, Hebrew University

• Chagai Weiss, University of Wisconsin - Madison