Ideology and Violence in Civil Resistance Campaigns

• In Event: New Research on Resistance and Repression

Abstract

How does ideology shape a civil resistance movement’s willingness and ability to adhere to an exclusively nonviolent strategy? This paper introduces new data on the ideologies of campaigns in the NAVCO 2.0 dataset. We develop a set of seven ideological categories, based on the type of principles or values invoked by the movement in making claims against the regime, and attribute a primary ideology to each campaign, as well as secondary ideologies when multiple are present. We use this data to explore relationships between movement ideology and uses of various forms of violence within an initially “nonviolent” campaign. Specifically, we evaluate two alternative hypotheses: an “audience” hypothesis that predicts groups with more inclusive ideologies will be more likely to maintain nonviolent discipline in an effort to maximize their appeal, and an “organizational” hypothesis that predicts that movements containing multiple ideologies will struggle to maintain cohesion and that fragmentation will lead to violence. 

Author

• Ches Thurber, Northern Illinois University