New Research on Resistance and Repression

Session Submission Type: Full Paper Panel

Session Description

Resistance and repression are reciprocally related. It is often difficult to ascertain the extent to which one phenomenon causes the other. Moreover, the wealth of intervening variables makes it difficult to determine when resistance is likely to cause repression, and vice versa. The papers on this panel take a variety of methodological approaches to elucidate the relationships between resistance and repression. The authors consider the institutional incentives for protest — when structures of government and civil society incentivize protestors to “unmask” a repressive government by challenging it in the streets. The authors also consider the characteristics of protest movements — how the ideological makeup of the movement affects its ability to sustain nonviolent tactics. The authors use network analysis to map specific protest tactics onto the most likely repressive responses by the state. In addition, the authors consider which attributes of local communities facilitate the formation of anti-state identities in response to repression by the government. The papers’ overall contribution is to answer several important questions about the resistance-repression nexus using well-crafted empirical social science research designs.

Sub Unit

• DIVISION 21: Conflict Processes

Individual Presentations

• Ideology and Violence in Civil Resistance Campaigns - Ches Thurber, Northern Illinois University

• Gambling on Backlash: The Role of Repression In Protest Strategy - Joseph Brown, University of Massachusetts Boston

• Modeling the Repression-Dissent Dynamic: A Network Approach - Howard Liu, Duke University

• State Violence and Post-conflict Electoral Support for the Left in Guatemala - Manuel Vogt, University College London

Chair

• Kristine Eck Uppsala University

Discussant

• Costantino Pischedda University of Miami