Other Types of Political Violence: Riots and Repression Class 4 - - - PowerPoint PPT Presentation

Other Types of Political Violence: Riots and Repression

Class 4 - August 13

Review: Definition of a political riot

• “intense, sudden, but not entirely unplanned

attack by a group of civilians against members of another distinguishable group”

• Goals vary based on riot, depend on
• rganization
• Often have ethnic/religious overtones.

Process of riot inception

• Underlying intergroup tension.
• Triggering event
• News travels to affected group
• Group members form gangs and attack

group perpetrator of trigger.

○ People are killed based on their ascription or beliefs.

Riot Characteristics

• Aggressors enter state of frenzy

and target out-group for killing.

• Killing is often grotesque and

symbolic.

• Victims chosen based on group

affinity.

• Arson used to displace people,

businesses.

• Opportunists use riot as cover for

looting.

Recent Examples of Political Riots

China - Xinjiang (Uyghurs target Han Chinese) Kyrgyzstan - Osh (Kyrgyz target Uzbeks Nigeria - widespread, many ethnic groups India - Assam, Uttar Pradesh (Muslims vs. Hindus)

Causes of Political Riots

• Brass: Organized by politicians for nation-

building

• Horowitz: Ad hoc, underlying tensions.
• Wilkinson: Electoral manipulation
• Others: Land disputes, refugee flows, prior

violence.

Brass: Riots are planned and deliberate

• Underlying conditions for political riots must

be present.

• Individuals in society: ‘tenders’ fan the flame
• f violence to exploit outcomes for own gains.

○ Mobilize gangs, etc.

• Ex: Riots organized by BJP to galvanize

Hindu nationalists and win elections.

Horowitz: Ad hoc organization

• Ethnic tensions are necessary for violence.
• Tensions prerequisite to situation where

small spark will set off fighting.

• Rumors of violence or other triggers foment

anger among the targeted group.

• Targeted group briefly congregates, leaders

emerge, begin attacks.

Horowitz: Lull between trigger and riot

• A short break between

triggering event and riot allows for some

• rganization.
• Ad hoc, loose
• rganization is

beneficial.

• Plans are improvised.

Wilkinson: Electoral Manipulation

Wilkinson: Electoral Manipulation

• In India, politicians initiate riots for electoral

purposes.

○ Create wedge issues between low-caste Hindus and Muslims.

• Highlights politically-organized processions

through each other’s neighborhoods.

○ Leads to back and forth.

Wilkinson: Results

• How does Wilkinson test hypothesis?
• What are the measures of political

inflammation?

• Are these measures convincing?

Other explanations

• Struggle for land
• Demographic shifts/parity
• Refugee resentment
• Violence begets violence

‘Miss’ World Riots in Nigeria

Riot Case

Background

• Nigeria is a multi-

ethnic society.

• North is mostly

Muslim, south is mostly Christian

• Kaduna state is

majority Muslim

• Riots in Kaduna state

in 2000.

What happened?

• Trigger: Newspaper article
• Protests -> attacks by Muslims -> retaliation

by Christians.

• Political leaders made threatening

statements before riots.

Discussion

• What leads to riots? What role do politicians

play? Are underlying causes economic or ethnic or both?

• What is the best explanation for ‘Miss World

Riots’?

Review: Definition of repression

• Physical sanctions against opponents of

regime to deter further anti-government activities (paraphrasing Goldstein).

• Involves jailing, extrajudicial killing,

preventing organization, etc.

• Goal: Prevent opposition to the government.

Selectorate Theory: Governments don’t need to make you happy

Citizens Selectorate Winning Coalition Residents

Types of Government

• Absolute Monarchy

○ Small Selectorate, small winning coalition.

• Rigged Autocracy:

○ Large Selectorate, small winning coalition.

• Democracy:

○ Large Selectorate, Large Winning Coalition

Government are accountable based

• n coalition size, composition
• Small Winning Coalition: Private goods to

supporters, cleptocracy, low accountability to citizens.

• Large Winning Coalition: Public goods to

supporters, low corruption, high accountability to citizens.

Governments prefer not to repress and to stay in power.

• Which do they prefer more?

Reasons for Repression

• Dissent from anti-government opposition
• Past successes in repression.
• Non-Democracy.

○ Why?

Davenport: Domestic Democratic Peace

• Democracies repress less due to two

features:

○ Voice ○ Veto

• Voice > Veto
• Democracy reduces repression during

conflict.

What’s missing?

What’s missing?

Autocracies vary in repressive behavior too: Indifferent leaders can get overthrown.

Repression also varies in autocracies

• Autocracies don’t always want to repress.

○ Would increase risk of overthrow.

• Some create democracy-lite institutions

(Gandhi 2007).

• Pay off some opposition, oppress the rest

(Lust-Okar 2006).

• Resource rich autocrats would rather pay off
• pponents (Dunning 2008).

Repression in Azerbaijan

Repression Case

Background

• Former Soviet state
• Oil rich
• Ruled by Aliyev

family.

• Some civil society

and democratic competition.

• No free elections.

Methods of suppressing opposition

Methods of suppressing opposition

• Imprisonment and harassment

Methods of suppressing opposition

• Imprisonment and harassment
• Media suppression

Methods of suppressing opposition

• Imprisonment and harassment
• Media suppression
• NGO suppression

Methods of suppressing opposition

• Imprisonment and harassment
• Media suppression
• NGO suppression
• Restrictions on protest and assembly.

What explains variation in repression across countries?

What explains repression in Azerbaijan in particular?