Determinants Of Repression Research Articles

Environmental and land defenders: Global patterns and determinants of repression

Environmental and land defenders play a crucial role in attempts to slow down environmental change and address power inequalities in land-use and resource development. Yet, they frequently face repression, including defamation, criminalization, and assassination. Recent policy and media coverage initiatives have provided much needed attention to the protection and support of defenders, but there has so far been little systematic analysis of patterns and determinants of repression at multiple scales. Here, we use databases providing the best available worldwide record of cases of socio-environmental conflicts and killings of defenders to identify patterns of repression and potential determinants of killings. Globally, about a third of socio-environmental conflicts involve mass mobilization, arrests and direct forms of violence. These ‘high intensity’ conflicts are more frequent in Asia and Latin America. At least 1734 killings of environmental and land defenders took place in a total of 53 countries between 2002 and 2018, most of them occurring in Brazil, the Philippines, Colombia, Honduras, Mexico and Peru. Our multivariate analysis indicates that major country-level determinants of killings include income level, foreign direct investment, dependency on mineral extraction, regime type, frequency of protest movements, and size of Indigenous populations. We suggest that more systematic reporting and analysis of repression – including through subnational level studies for which we provide testable hypotheses – can help protect and support defenders, notably through conflict-sensitive investment policies and greater accountability for abuses.

Institutions, Repression and the Spread of Protest

We analyze the strategic interactions between a state that decides whether to repress a group of activists and the general public that decides whether to protest following repression. Strategic complementarities between the strategies of the public and the state generate multiple equilibria, suggesting a role for social norms. These results shed light on conflicting empirical findings regarding the determinants of repression. We investigate the effects of exogenous restrictions, imposed by international institutions, showing that weak restrictions can paradoxically increase repression. This result provides a rationale for the puzzling empirical finding that international pressure can increase repression. Finally, we study the effects of endogenous restrictions, imposed by domestic institutions set up by the state to restrict its own subsequent repression. We characterize when the state can benefit from introducing such institutions, offering an explanation for the presence of partially independent judiciaries in authoritarian regimes.

The 5′ UTR of Protein Kinase C ϵ Confers Translational Regulation in Vitro and in Vivo

We have examined translational regulation conferred by the 5′ untranslated region (UTR) of PKCϵ on expression of the luciferase reporter gene in vitro, using rabbit reticulocyte lysates and in vivo, in contact-inhibiting mouse Swiss 3T3 fibroblasts and non-contact-inhibiting Swiss 3T6 fibroblasts. In rabbit reticulocyte lysates, the 5′ UTR of PKCϵ significantly represses translation. In 3T3 and 3T6 cells, the 5′ UTR of PKCϵ reduces luciferase activity, but not to the same extent as it does in vitro. In rabbit reticulocyte lysate, the degree of repression mediated by different PKCϵ 5′ UTR-deletion constructs correlates with the free energy (ΔG) of their predicted secondary structures. However, in cells, secondary structure is not the only determinant of repression; an internal region of the 5′ UTR is both necessary and sufficient for repression. Mutation of an upstream AUG (uAUG) motif in this region partially relieves repression. We conclude that the 5′ UTR of PKCϵ can mediate translational regulation and that translation inhibition in vivo involves the uAUG motif. Our findings also suggest that there are factors present in fibroblasts, but not in rabbit reticulocyte lysates that substantially overcome the repressive qualities of the long, structured 5′ UTR. Thus, we have identified a potential new level of regulation of PKC in mammalian cells.