Coercive Strategies Research Articles

Repression Technology: Internet Accessibility and State Violence

AbstractThis article offers a first subnational analysis of the relationship between states' dynamic control of Internet access and their use of violent repression. I argue that where governments provide Internet access, surveillance of digital information exchange can provide intelligence that enables the use of more targeted forms of repression, in particular in areas not fully controlled by the regime. Increasing restrictions on Internet accessibility can impede opposition organization, but they limit access to information on precise targets, resulting in an increase in untargeted repression. I present new data on killings in the Syrian conflict that distinguish between targeted and untargeted events, using supervised text classification. I find that higher levels of Internet accessibility are associated with increases in targeted repression, whereas areas with limited access experience more indiscriminate campaigns of violence. The results offer important implications on how governments incorporate the selective access to communication technology into their strategies of coercion.

Risk factors for being a victim of online grooming in adolescents.

The risk of child grooming has spread exponentially with the massive access of adolescents to social networks and the internet. The aim of the study was to examine the personal factors (body self-esteem and disinhibition) and erotic-sexual factors (sexual initiation strategies and erotic-pornographic sexting) that predict grooming. The sample was comprised of 1,200 adolescents aged between 12 and 16 years (M = 14.54, SD = 1.17; 50.83% girls). A cross-sectional design with self-report data was used and structural equation modeling (SEM) with mediation analysis was performed. The results indicated two paths explaining child grooming: 1) physical attractiveness and disinhibition are indirectly associated with grooming through erotic sexting and direct sexual initiation strategies; both of which partially mediate this relationship; 2) disinhibited behavior has an indirect impact on grooming; pornographic sexting and coercive strategies acting as mediators. The semi-partial mediation model explains 54% of the variance of grooming. These findings highlight the urgent need to implement prevention programs considering these attitudes and behaviors that function as precursors of victimization and the risk of falling into pedophile networks.

The Persian Gulf Crisis 2019-2020 and the U.S.-Iran interactions.

The Persian Gulf crisis 2019-2020 is one of the challenges the international community is currently facing. After the assassination of General Qasem Soleimani, the crisis has taken on new dimensions, calling into question the effectiveness of the U.S. strategy and its legitimacy in the Middle East. In order to provide a better view of the relationship between the U.S. and Iran, we identified the main underlying causes that contributed to paramount animosities and the reputation for resolve, classifying them into several categories: geostrategic, economic, symbolic, etc. To decipher the actions taken by combatants in 2019 and 2020, we analyzed the strategies adopted, the miscalculations, the strategic costs involved, and how they impacted the future interaction in the Middle East. Having access to numerous American primary sources (press, American officials’ speeches, official releases), we used theoretical aspects of political psychology in order to highlight the U.S. strategic incoherence. In the case of Iran, we used secondary sources to demonstrate the unjustified Iranian assertiveness during the crisis. This paper aims to question the rationality behind the decisions taken by the leaders of the two states and to determine to which extent these decisions were the product of a solid and rational decision-making process or the product of cognitive rigidity. This paper also emphasizes that the inference that the other’s image is the product of aggressiveness, was the main reason why coercive strategies did not have the desired effect on the initiator.

Instrumental support for designing mechanisms of institutional interventionism

The interaction of participants in the political-economic process cannot always be successfully described in terms of mechanisms of market coordination and is not always based on principles of a voluntary and mutually beneficial exchange that increases well-being. The fact is that economic actors are not uniform in the possession of power. Accordingly, activity for the rational use of limited resources is not based on competition between homogeneous economic entities in a spontaneous economic order, but on conflict between subjects with different power potentials in a hierarchical structure. Thus, power acts as a competitive advantage, which rational subjects tend to use for the purpose of force redistribution. One of its forms is institutional intervention — a behavioral model based on a coercive strategy through the establishment (change) of rules. The article describes the potential use of optimization and equilibrium models to describe the behavioral interventionist strategies. Optimization models characterize the interventionist behavior at the initial stage of institutional design, and equilibrium models determine possible variation in interactions between interventionists and victims during the redistribution of power. Methods for quantifying effects of institutional сhange are systematized. The proposition that violent equilibrium is not a specific distribution of mutual gains from cooperation, both with voluntary exchange and coordination level of tolerance (the maximum value of costs that the victim is willing to sacrifice) and a threshold (the lowest possible) values interventionist legitimacy, is substantiated. As guidelines for the evaluation of deviations from the equilibrium levels, we offer levels stability, efficiency, and legitimacy of institutional design.

Preaching Phrenitis: Augustine’s Medicalization of Religious Difference

Like many late antique preachers and theologians, Augustine of Hippo understood deviant religious practices and beliefs in terms of mental illness. Whereas this metaphor was typically framed in generic terms (for example, “madness” or “insanity”), Augustine developed a consistent and specific diagnosis that made use of the symptoms of the mental illness phrenitis (acute delirium with acute fever) to undermine the self-knowledge and authority of those who thought their spiritual health did not depend upon the healing intervention of Christ or his substitute, the Christian preacher. This article argues that Augustine used the mental illness phrenitis as a model for sickness of the soul in order to reinforce his own authority as a physician of the soul and to justify coercive therapeutic interventions in the lives of his opponents. Phrenitis represented for Augustine a sickness characterized by distorted self-perception, the rejection of medical care, preternatural physical strength, and a tendency to violence. These symptoms, which were rooted in the medical concept of the disease, established a framework for his medicalization of religious difference, both at the local level (congregants, religious opponents) and on a broader theological plane. This medicalization motivated strategies of therapeutic coercion, and enabled Augustine to define his ecclesial community along therapeutic lines.

Geographies of Urban Dominance: The Politics of Harare’s Periphery

This paper examines how Zimbabwe’s ruling party ZANU(PF) sought to dominate Harare from 2000 onwards, when the city’s voters turned to the opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC). The ruling party’s quest for control was embedded in broader changes to the state, marked by countrywide repression of the political opposition and civic organisations, securitised state institutions, and a shift into patronage and systemic corruption, in a context of repeated economic crises and infrastructural decay. ZANU(PF) deployed a mix of ‘repressive’ and ‘generative’ strategies but these have been notably unsuccessful in winning back urban votes overall. The ruling party’s ‘generative’ patronage in this solidly opposition-supporting capital hinged on controlling land and new settlements on the periphery, together with dominance of central markets and opportunities for vending. Simultaneously, the powers of the Ministry Responsible for Local Government were used to undermine the city’s council, destabilise its finances and restrict its spatial governance. Land reform and land occupations, justified nationwide as a continuation of the liberation struggle, shaped the city’s expansion in distinctive ways. The paper makes two contributions to broader conceptual debates over political dominance in urban contexts. First, it advocates a geographical approach that differentiates specific urban spaces, rather than treating capital cities as monolithic. Second, it calls for attention to the qualities of political dominance and change over time. This means looking beyond top-down strategies of co-optation or coercion and open forms of protest politics to explore authority and political manoeuvres within dominated locales.

In Search for Strength: A Regime (in) Security Facing Mass Protests in Ethiopia, 2015 to 2018

Drawing from extensive, comparative empirical data and relevant literature, this paper attempts to answer the question as to how and to what extent does pursuit of regime security explain the recent popular protests in Ethiopia. The insecurity of the regime is manifested in a state weakness, where the regime tries to gain strength but meets resistance from society; the resistance makes the regime adapt more coercive strategies for consolidation of state power which generates further resistance. This paper argues that human insecurity in Ethiopia has been mainly the result of the authoritarian nature of the state and the ruling party’s unprecedented pursuit of regime security. The author found out that the regime’s resilience seemed rooted in the strategies it has utilized in order to stay in power – namely, the quite disproportional deployment of coercive force to quash popular demand for reform; manipulations of the democratization process, and co-opting democratic institutions of the state. For the author, to address the root causes of human security problematic is essential for ensuring citizens’ prosperity and security thereby building a secure Ethiopian state.

Understanding Bullying, Victimization, and Bystander Behaviors Through Resource Control Theory

Resource control theory posits that individuals may utilize prosocial and/or coercive strategies to access social resources. Resource control theory has utility for understanding adolescents’ engagement in bullying role behaviors. The current study examined direct associations between bullying role behaviors (i.e., bullying, victimization, assisting, defending, and outsider behavior) and resource control strategies (i.e., prosocial and coercive resource control), as well as differences in bullying behaviors among groups of resource controllers identified through latent profile analysis (LPA). In a sample of 6th–8th grade students (N = 680; 44% female) via self-report, bullying role behaviors were assessed using the Bullying Participant Behaviors Questionnaire and resource control strategies were assessed using the Resource Control Strategies Inventory. Prosocial resource control was positively associated with defending behavior, and coercive resource control was positively associated with bullying and defending. The current study validated the use of LPA for grouping adolescents based on their use of resource control strategies, although the emergent groups differed slightly from the traditional approach. Findings suggest an absence of a purely coercive resource control group as posited by resource control theory. Advanced understanding of social behaviors, including the use of resource control strategies, leads to a more comprehensive approach to preventing bullying and victimization in schools.

Cautious Bully: Reputation, Resolve, and Beijing's Use of Coercion in the South China Sea

Abstract Since 1990, China has used coercion in its maritime territorial disputes in the South China Sea, despite adverse implications for its image. China is curiously selective in its timing, targets, and tools of coercion: China rarely employs military coercion, and it does not coerce all countries that pose similar threats. An examination of newly available primary documents and hundreds of hours of interviews with Chinese officials to trace the decisionmaking processes behind China's use and nonuse of coercion reveals a new theory of when, why, and how China employs coercion against other states, especially in the South China Sea. Contrary to conventional wisdom, the findings show that China is a cautious bully that does not use coercion frequently. In addition, when China becomes stronger, it tends to use military coercion less often, choosing instead nonmilitary tools. Moreover, concerns with its reputation for resolve and with economic cost are critical elements of Chinese decisionmaking regarding the costs and benefits of coercing its neighbors. China often coerces one target to deter others—“killing the chicken to scare the monkey.” These findings have important implications for how scholars understand states' coercive strategies and the future of Chinese behavior in the region and beyond.

A Test of the Bistrategic Control Hypothesis of Adolescent Popularity.

Resource Control Theory (Hawley, 1999) posits a group of bistrategic popular youth who attain status through coercive strategies while mitigating fallout via prosociality. This study identifies and distinguishes this bistrategic popular group from other popularity types, tracing the adjustment correlates of each. Adolescent participants (288 girls, 280 boys; Mage =12.50years) completed peer nominations in the Fall and Spring of the seventh and eighth grades. Longitudinal latent profile analyses classified adolescents into groups based on physical and relational aggression, prosocial behavior, and popularity. Distinct bistrategic, aggressive, and prosocial popularity types emerged. Bistrategic popular adolescents had the highest popularity and above average aggression and prosocial behavior; they were viewed by peers as disruptive and angry but were otherwise well-adjusted.

Come on, give it to me baby: Self-esteem, narcissism, and endorsing sexual coercion following social rejection

Endorsement and acceptance of sexually coercive strategies as a means to an end contributes to the global problem of sexual victimization. The current research tests how personality traits that make people sensitive to rejection (i.e., self-esteem) and predisposed to non-communal attitudes (i.e., narcissism) interact with a situational factor—perceived social rejection—to predict when people endorse the use of sexual coercion. This work also explores whether different facets of narcissism better predict endorsement of coercion than others. Participants in two online studies (Ntotal = 740), completed background measures including the Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale and the Narcissistic Admiration and Rivalry Questionnaire. Next, participants were randomly assigned to write about a recent incident of rejection or acceptance by a close other. Finally, endorsement of sexual coercion was measured using a questionnaire (adapted from Shackelford & Goetz, 2004). Consistent with predictions, across two studies, single (but not romantically attached) people with high narcissism and low self-esteem were more likely to endorse sexual coercion following reminders of rejection by close others. Our findings demonstrate that personality and situational factors interact to predict endorsement of sexual coercion, and that focusing on either alone might obscure the path to understanding the “whos” and “whens” of sexual assault.

Love-Jihad (Muslim Sexual Seduction) and ched-chad (sexual harassment): Hindu nationalist discourses and the Ideal/deviant urban citizen in India

The phenomenal rise of Hindu nationalism in India has fostered a number of anti-Muslim campaigns, ranging from random enforcement of vegetarianism on beef-eating communities, to highly organised communal riots. This article explores one such strain of Hindu nationalist discursive politics called ‘Love Jihad’, a moral panic against the alleged seduction, marriage, forced conversion and trafficking of young Hindu girls by Muslim men. Against the backdrop of emerging urban modernities, which offers women exposure to education, romantic choices and inter-religious marriages, employment in urban labour economies, and opportunities to experiment with religious ideologies and sexualities, the authors analyse how the discourse of ‘Love Jihad’ was modified to act as a regulatory mechanism to control the choice and mobility of young urban women. This article examines the conceptualisation of ‘Love Jihad’ in multiple nationalist sites, in order to shed light on the ways in which right-wing organisations attempted to realign the urban public sphere in accordance with a gendered Hindu civil order. By drawing on ethnographic fieldwork on the women’s wings of two prominent Hindu nationalist organisations, the authors study a range of doctrinal, informal, practical, persuasive and coercive strategies used by nationalist women leaders to socialise young women into the ideology of perfect Hindu subjecthood; by laying its foundation in the dichotomy between security of the ‘Self’ (women uncorrupted by the fluidities of modern life as ideal, permissible and desirable urban citizens), versus the danger of the ‘Other’ (migrants, Muslims and other undesirable communities in urban public space).

Trust, power and supply chain integration in Web-enabled supply chains

PurposeThis study aims to examine the effects of trading partner trust and trading partner power, on supply chain integration, and their impact on business performance in the context of Web-enabled supply chains. In doing so, the authors extend previous studies by exploring this phenomenon by using an integrative theory-driven approach.Design/methodology/approachThis study presents a theoretical model grounded on the resource-based and dynamic capabilities views and the social capital theory. Data collected from 175 firms in the USA are used to test the hypotheses using structural equation modeling.FindingsResults highlight the importance of trust and supply chain integration on business performance, whereas power did not appear to have an effect on supply chain integration in Web-enabled supply chains. The findings are robust to concerns of endogeneity, common method bias and alternative model specification.Practical implicationsCompanies engaged in Web-enabled supply chains need to focus on increasing their integration efforts, and these efforts must also be accompanied by partnerships built on trust. Trading partners who might be inclined to use coercive strategies to influence other members of the supply chain in Web-enabled environments may be better off using cooperative approaches based on trust to achieve their desired goals.Originality/valueThis study integrates the resource-based view, dynamic capabilities view and the social capital theory to explore the dynamic relationships between trading partner trust, trading partner power and supply chain integration in Web-enabled supply chains. In doing so, this paper extends prior studies by examining supply chain integration’s impact on business performance and its mediating role, as it relates to trading partner trust and power in Web-enabled supply chains.

EU NAVEGO, TU NAVEGAS E NÓS DEVERÍAMOS ESTAR TRABALHANDO: UM ESTUDO NETNOGRÁFICO DA MANIFESTAÇÃO DO CYBERLOAFING NAS INTERAÇÕES SOCIAIS ONLINE

Em um contexto organizacional cada vez mais digital e tecnológico, pode-se perceber de maneira recorrente o cyberloafing: o uso das TICs no âmbito laboral para fins pessoais, não pertinentes ao trabalho. Esse fenômeno pode ser exemplificado em diversas práticas, em especial, o acesso a redes sociais virtuais no ambiente de trabalho para fins não profissionais. O objetivo geral da presente pesquisa foi compreender o cyberloafing através do engajamento nas interações online entre usuários da rede social virtual Reddit. Para tal, realizou-se uma netnografia de abordagem qualitativa mediante imersão na comunidade Reddit r/brasil. Procedeu-se a uma análise documental, reunindo conteúdo produzido pelos membros da comunidade sem interferência das pesquisadoras, e a uma observação participante, realizando comentários ou postagens que incentivassem o(s) informante(s) a se manifestar sobre suas experiências de cyberloafing. Consideraram-se como manifestações os relatos específicos sobre o fenômeno ou acerca de qualquer outra questão relacionada. Verificou-se uma grande frequência de práticas de cyberloafing grave, além de manifestações acerca de antecedentes organizacionais e individuais. Apesar de se identificar consequentes positivos, os consequentes negativos sobressaíram. Quanto aos posicionamentos organizacionais em relação ao uso pessoal de TICs, identificaram-se o restritivo e o permissivo. Verificaram-se, em maior número, manifestações de estratégias ou medidas de controle coercitivas. Considera-se que a pesquisa traz consigo relevância visto que apresenta o cyberloafing de maneira ampla, manifestado espontaneamente por seus praticantes, em um ambiente virtual favorável para a ocorrência do fenômeno.

Games borrower governments play: the implementation of economic adjustment programmes in Cyprus and Portugal

Research on the Economic Adjustment Programmes (EAPs) for Eurozone crisis countries has so far acknowledged the role of creditor countries and Troika institutions or has examined the economic effects or structural determinants of domestic implementation processes. The role of borrower governments as strategic actors within the ‘Troika complex’ has been neglected. Taking Cyprus and Portugal as cases in point, the article shows how reform-oriented borrower governments used the interaction with the Troika to overcome veto player opposition to programme implementation. Drawing on the two-level game and on negotiation theory, the study discusses borrower strategies in response to opposition from the court or parliament, and the costs of no agreement. Reform-oriented governments mostly used commitments to the international level or Troika pressure to pursue coercive strategies vis-à-vis domestic opponents. High costs of no agreement seem to be a necessary means to pass on political and market pressure through coercion.

Theorising indirect coercion: The logic of triangular strategies

This article deals with the concept of indirect coercion as a distinct type of coercive strategy involving three actors. We introduce a taxonomy of triangular strategies commonly employed in international politics: ‘hostage-taking’, ‘patron-client’ and ‘composite’ strategies. These three types of indirect coercion cover different ways in how the coercer draws the intermediary actor in the process of coercive bargaining to enhance his leverage over the target. For each type, we conduct a plausibility probe to study these dynamics on short empirical case studies. We argue that our conceptualisation of indirect coercion opens new avenues for research into deterrence and compellence in contemporary world politics.

Analisis Kritis Konsep Kurikulum Pendidikan Islam Indonesia di Sekolah (SD, SMP, SMA, & SMK)

Basically, every PAI curriculum development requires a clear and solid foundation, so that it is not easily swayed by the flow of transformation and innovation in education and learning that is so powerful as it has been lately. If the innovation, in general, tends to be top-down innovation through the power coercion strategy or coercion from the superiors in power. The change in curriculum from the KBK to KTSP is expected to be able to make Islamic religious education more able to make the quality of religious education more able to make changes in Indonesia. In addition to changing the morals of better students, it is hoped that it can also increase knowledge. In accordance with the objectives of the curriculum changes themselves who want to improve the quality of students, both intellectual, emotional and spiritual quality.

Coercion and third-party mediation of identity-based conflict

AbstractThis article analyses third-party mediation of identity-based conflicts, which are notoriously difficult to resolve. It seeks to reconcile the contradiction in the mediation literature between the need for less coercive strategies to ensure ownership of a peace agreement and the need for more coercive strategies to reach a final agreement. Through an analysis of mediation of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, the article makes four contributions to existing literature. First, the article develops a theoretical ‘best fit’ model that proposes a u-shaped relationship between intensity of mediator coercion and transition through phases of negotiation. Second, it challenges the prevailing notion that pre-negotiation does not involve coercion. Third, it suggests that epistemological and ontological understandings of a conflict and the role of a mediator by both the mediator and the parties mean that mediators enjoy limited capacity to effectively shift from high- to low-coercive strategies. Multi-party mediation can provide the flexibility needed to execute the coercion u-curve effectively. Fourth, it challenges existing understandings of the US-mediated negotiations during the Annapolis process, 2007–08.

Coping among caregivers of patients suffering from bipolar affective disorder

Introduction: Burden caused by bipolar affective disorder (BPAD) upon families and caregivers is a matter of increasing clinical concern. Stressors are coped with based on how significant they are for those involved. Coping means trying to overcome that which is causing stress and may refocus the significance associated with the difficulties, guide the individual's life, and keep him/her physically, psychologically, and socially healthy. Aims and Objectives: The aim and objective of the study was to explore ways of coping by caregivers of patients suffering from BPAD. Materials and Methods: The sample comprised 100 caregivers of 100 patients either outpatients or inpatients at the Department of Psychiatry, SKIMS, Bemina, Srinagar, diagnosed with BPAD using International Classification of Diseases, tenth revision. Results: Majority of caregivers were from the age group of 40–49 years, males, married, and with no formal education. In our study, majority of caregivers were from the age group of 40–49 years, males, unmarried, and with no formal education. Majority of caregivers had been providing care to the patients for the duration of 1–5 years. Majority of caregivers were spouses of the patients. The most common method of coping was consulting doctors, talking to friends/family, and seeking practical help. Majority of caregivers used avoidance, seeking social support, and problem-focused strategies. Collusion strategy was also frequently used. Coercion strategy was used less frequently. Conclusions: Majority of caregivers used avoidance, seeking social support, and problem-focused strategies. Collusion strategy was also frequently used. Coercion strategy was used less frequently. We need to better understand caregivers' views and personal perceptions of the stresses and demands arising from caring for someone with bipolar affective disorder. Family interventions are needed to increase the coping ability of caregivers of the patients.

Quorum Sensing Digital Simulations for the Emergence of Scalable and Cooperative Artificial Networks

This article proposes digital simulations of a bacterial communication system termed quorum sensing, and investigates the design of artificial networks build on the behavior of bacteria societies that tweet using quorum sensing signals. To this end, this article proposes a cell-based model that uses a “bottom-up” agent-based model coupled with ordinary differential equations, and develops the abstraction of intracellular dynamics as a basis underlying cooperative artificial network formation. Results show the emergence of self-sustainable behaviors thanks to the proposed model of metabolism that permits bacteria to grow, reproduce, interact, and coordinate at the population level to exhibit near-perfect bioluminescence behaviors. Moreover, the evolution of cooperation in the subsequent artificial network leads to the emergence of non-predicted coercive strategies. Coercion has been shown to be beneficial to share common interests between variants of cooperators leading the entire population of cells to be networked.