Compounding Grievances: Why Self-Determination Movements Use Violence

• In Event: Poster Session: International Political Economy II & Conflict Processes I
  In Poster Session: Poster Session: Conflict Processes I

Abstract

How do economic stress factors and government repression influence whether self-determination movements use violent tactics? Movements increasingly engage in anti-government violence when their individual members become willing to use violent tactics. When the status quo becomes worse, individuals within self-determination movements value the present more. As a result, they prioritize short-term goals over the long-term aspiration for self-determination. The desire to redress immediate grievances and the benefit of coordination among individuals using violence increases the likelihood that the movement as a whole will use violence. The value of the status quo for each individual within a self-determination movement is partially determined by economic stress factors such as the unemployment rate and food price within a country. Additionally, government repression in times of poor economic conditions compounds grievances and alters individuals' strategic calculus, leading them to pursue violent tactics. I test my expectations using an original dataset of self-determination movements in Africa from 2000-2014.

Author

• Daniel Gustafson, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill