Qualitative Research on Why an Individual Links Oneself to a Violent Movement Emphasizing the Shining Path Movement in Peru (1980-2000)

• In Event: Violence

Abstract

Throughout international history, revolutionary movements have sorted to violence in order to achieve success. To some, individuals involved in these movements are known as terrorists though to others, freedom fighters. Some of these movements include the Sandinista Revolution in Nicaragua, the Cuban Revolution, and the Russian Revolution. This project will focus on the Shining Path in Peru, a Maoist guerrilla insurgent group that launched a violent movement in order to replace what they believed was a bourgeois government with a "New Democracy." The goal of this project is to find why an individual would join such a movement knowing that there is a high chance that the outcome will not be positive for them. Through a qualitative research, trends are highly expected to establish reasons. Such include socioeconomic, political and cultural. Even though this project is still in its intermediate phase, there are 10 experts of this movement in Peru that have committed themselves to this determined cooperative process.

Author

• Diego Snyder-Zuasnabar, Lamar University