Organizational processes and violence in social movements

Abstract

Political institutions and culture, the strategies of allies and opponents, the governmental coalition in power – all these environmental variables help explain the cyclical emergence of repressive attitudes in Italy and Germany, precisely when these countries were generally moving toward greater tolerance of political protest and more liberal definitions of democratic rights. In the preceding chapter, we observed that political violence was at least partially correlated with variations in the policing of protest. But neither the political opportunity structure nor the policing of protest offers a completely satisfactory explanation for political violence. First, episodes of violent escalation – for example, the terrorist attacks in the early seventies or the waves of youth violence in the eighties in Germany – did not follow an increase in repression. Second, the correlation between protest violence and repressive violence by the state does not explain the dynamics and logic of radicalization. In order to understand the development of political violence, we have to look at the actors that used radical strategies, in particular, the radical movement organizations. ORGANIZATIONAL PROCESSES AND RADICALIZATION In this chapter, I suggest that environmental conditions triggered organizational processes that in turn favored the diffusion of violence. Organizational analysis provides an ideal basis to study the escalation of political protest, as political violence is, indeed, a strategy used by radical – sometimes underground – organizations.