Dynamics of Political Violence: A Process-Oriented Perspective on Radicalization and the Escalation of Political Conflict (The Mobilization Series on Social Movements, Protest, and Culture)

Dynamics of Political Violence examines how violence emerges and develops from episodes of contentious politics. By considering a wide range of empirical cases, such as anarchist movements, ethno-nationalist and left-wing militancy in Europe, contemporary Islamist violence, and insurgencies in South Africa and Latin America, this pathbreaking volume of research identifies the forces that shape radicalization and violent escalation and contributes to the process-and-mechanism-based models of contentious politics that have been developing over the past decade in both sociology and political science. Chapters of original research emphasize how the processes of radicalization and violence are open-ended, interactive, and context dependent. They offer detailed empirical accounts as well as comprehensive and systematic analyses of the dynamics leading to violent episodes. Specifically, the chapters converge around four dynamic processes that are shown to be especially germane to radicalization and violence: dynamics of movement-state interaction; dynamics of intra-movement competition; dynamics of meaning formation and transformation; and dynamics of diffusion. This engaging and timely volume offers a theoretically sophisticated and empirically detailed understanding of how violence emerges and evolves based on a broadly comparative approach that draws on a wide variety of settingsDynamics of Political Violence examines how violence emerges and develops from episodes of contentious politics. By considering a wide range of empirical cases, such as anarchist movements, ethno-nationalist and left-wing militancy in Europe, contemporary Islamist violence, and insurgencies in South Africa and Latin America, this pathbreaking volume of research identifies the forces that shape radicalization and violent escalation and contributes to the process-and-mechanism-based models of contentious politics that have been developing over the past decade in both sociology and political science. Chapters of original research emphasize how the processes of radicalization and violence are open-ended, interactive, and context dependent. They offer detailed empirical accounts as well as comprehensive and systematic analyses of the dynamics leading to violent episodes. Specifically, the chapters converge around four dynamic processes that are shown to be especially germane to radicalization and violence: dynamics of movement-state interaction; dynamics of intra-movement competition; dynamics of meaning formation and transformation; and dynamics of diffusion. This engaging and timely volume offers a theoretically sophisticated and empirically detailed understanding of how violence emerges and evolves based on a broadly comparative approach that draws on a wide variety of settings. Dynamics of Political Violence examines how violence emerges and develops from episodes of contentious politics. By considering a wide range of empirical cases, such as anarchist movements, ethno-nationalist and left-wing militancy in Europe, contemporary Islamist violence, and insurgencies in South Africa and Latin America, this pathbreaking volume of research identifies the forces that shape radicalization and violent escalation. It also contributes to the process-and-mechanism-based models of contentious politics that have been developing over the past decade in both sociology and political science. Chapters of original research emphasize how the processes of radicalization and violence are open-ended, interactive, and context dependent. They offer detailed empirical accounts as well as comprehensive and systematic analyses of the dynamics leading to violent episodes. Specifically, the chapters converge around four dynamic processes that are shown to be especially germane to radicalization and violence: dynamics of movement-state interaction; dynamics of intra-movement competition; dynamics of meaning formation and transformation; and dynamics of diffusion -- Provided by Publisher Cover 1 Contents 6 List of Figures and Tables 8 List of Contributors 10 Acknowledgements 12 1 A Contentious Politics Approach to the Explanation of Radicalization 14 PART I Dynamics of Interaction between Oppositional Movements/Groups and the State 38 2 The Mechanisms of Emotion in Violent Protest 40 3 A Typology of Backfire Mechanisms 64 4 Processes of Radicalization and De-radicalization in Western European Prisons (1965–1986) 84 PART II Competition and Conflict: Dynamics of Intra-movement Interaction 104 5 Competitive Escalation During Protest Cycles 106 6 Intra-movement Competition and Political Outbidding 128 7 The Limits of Radicalization 150 PART III Dynamics of Meaning Formation: Frames and Beyond 180 8 Contentious Interactions, Dynamics of Interpretations, and Radicalization 182 9 Radical or Righteous? 202 10 From National Event to Transnational Injustice Symbol 230 PART IV Dynamics of (Transnational) Diffusion 248 11 Radicalization from Outside 250 12 Protest Diffusion and Rising Political Violence in the Turkish ’68 Movement 268 13 The Evolution of the al-Qaeda-type Terrorism 288 14 Conclusion 306 Index 318