Nonviolent Responses Research Articles

Verging war between two atomic nations: Delineating coverage of India–Pakistan water dispute in global press

Arguably, journalistic practices should outline conflict reporting with a balanced approach to elicit non-violent responses. To date, no study has unfolded the coverage of the Indo-Pak potential war fueling “water dispute” by underpinning the theoretical notion of war and peace journalistic practices. Thus, drawing an analogy to war and peace journalism model, this article examines the media framing of the India–Pakistan water dispute in the USA, Chinese, Indian, and Pakistani newspapers. The study used a content analysis method to examine the use of framing techniques in newspapers. Findings supported that the global press' framing of the water dispute between India and Pakistan was dominated by war frames compared to peace frames. The Indian press used more war frames among the four countries while covering water disputes between rival nuclear neighbors. Moreover, it was found that the USA and Chinese press gave negligible coverage. The implications of the findings are discussed.

Strategies for a Nonviolent Response to Perpetrator Actions: What Can Christianity Offer to Targets of Workplace Mobbing?

This study sought to identify what strategies Christianity can offer for a morally justifiable, nonviolent response to mobbing actions. A qualitative content analysis of the Gospel of Luke was performed, and Heinz Leymann’s action groups of workplace mobbing were used to create categories. Three strategies of nonviolent response to attacks on communication, personal and professional reputation as well as social exclusion and physical attacks were identified. Their set consists of active efforts to maintain the observers’ support, refusal to engage in a stubborn and destructive struggle, and cognitive reappraisal and making sense of negative experiences. The possibilities for using these strategies in different situations are discussed, and directions for further research are outlined, enabling us to evaluate the effectiveness of millennia-old religious coping practices in cases of workplace mobbing.

The feminization of resistance: the narratives of #NiUnaMenos as social transformative action

ABSTRACT The Argentinean movement #NiUnaMenos (NUM) represents one of the most relevant transnational examples of Latin American feminist mobilization against gender-based violence and can be understood as vanguard of a current tide of feminized resistance on a global scale. This article addresses two central narratives in the discourses and social practices of three founders of the NUM; one about feminist mobilization as a social transformative moment that creates distinctive protest performances in the pursuing of a liveable life despite the challenging restrictive possibilities; and the other about the intersection between gender and class in the struggle against the neoliberal patriarchal precarization of life, related to the lack of the collective systems of social protection against gender-based violence. The analysis of these narratives highlights a feminization of resistance that promotes a radical transformation of the social system, where politics also at a micro level question capitalism, colonialism, and patriarchy by producing alternative knowledges, subjectivities, and epistemologies. Particularly, the study of the experience of enhanced precariousness created by the operation of patriarchal violence, and the resistance expressed in engendered alternative ethical and non-violent responses, reveals in the narratives the strength of a precarity awareness becoming a network of transnational and cross-identities solidarity.

Peace journalism in South Africa

This article presents a theoretical exploration of the concept of peace journalism. It assessesits usefulness for strengthening existing practices in the South African media. Peace journalismaddresses issues around journalistic practices in relation to story selection and presentation withthe aim of facilitating non-violent responses to real and potential conflict. There is no doubt thatcommercial media coverage often relies on sensational and inflammatory discourse to attractconsumers (audience), and that, even during times of peace, political communication frequentlyincorporates conflict or war terminology. Given the potential for individual and intergroup violence(actual or latent) due to the diverse nature of the population and South Africa’s historical legacies,there is a need to address peace-communication concerns on a continuous basis. This article isbased on a review of seminal literature in the field and also on the discussion and findings of around table conducted at the University of Johannesburg on 27 and 28 October 2011 with a numberof South African academics and representatives of national media-monitoring organisations.

Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) and Politics of Non-violence: A Perspective of Passive Resilience, 1920-1930

This article examines the emergence of Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) among rural middle and lower middle-class Sikhs with the objectives of reforms in gurdwaras management along with to preserve separate Sikh identity, stop Sikhs conversion and popular representation of Sikhs through non-violent means during 1920-1930. SAD avoided to merge into national level Non-Cooperation movement and remained successful to achieve its initial goals. This article, based on revealing the fresh sources drawn from the Punjab Archives Lahore and Lahore Museum Library argues that initially a pure religious reformist movement emerged with popular support continued the strategy of nonviolence even after the acceptance of major demands in the Sikh Gurdwaras Act, 1925. SAD’s nonviolence strategy was also influenced by other Sikh organizations like Khalsa Diwan, Central Sikh League and external forces, like Indian National Congress (INC), All India Muslim League (AIML), the Unionist Party, Non-Cooperation movement and Khilafat movement at different scale. The British Indian government initially tried to handle the Sikh resistance through Sikh elites, gurdwara mahatns and colonial Punjab administration but SAD’s nonviolent response forced the government to mend their ways and finally introduced the Sikh Gurdwaras Act, 1925.

Instruments of Empathy-Shaping in the Creation of a Culture of Peace and Non-Violence

Empathy as a human trait that gives the ability to understand, respect, and share the feelings of other people is one of the most important elements in building a secure society and a culture of peace and non-violence. The level of empathy in individuals is influenced by endogenous and exogenous factors, and it has an affective and cognitive dimension. The aim of this paper is to investigate the concept of empathy, the extent of influence of endogenic and exogenous factors, to investigate the influence of three main elements in the development of empathy in children and youth, namely family, school, and media, and to investigate the degree of correlation between empathy and creation and maintaining a culture of peace and nonviolence. The methods used in this paper are quantitative and qualitative content analysis, comparative analysis, historical method, analogy method, and analysis of primary and secondary sources. The research confirmed the importance of empathy in the development of a culture of tolerance, dialogue, respect for opposing opinions and goals, respect for diversity, and non-violent response to conflicts. All these elements are simultaneously elements of a culture of peace and non-violence, and therefore the conclusion is that empathy is one of the preconditions for building a culture whose goal is a safer and more humane society that provides greater security from physical destruction than a culture of war and aggressive problem-solving. The authors conclude this paper with recommendations for the three main pillars of shaping empathy in children, namely family, school, and the media.

On the Practical Use of Immersive Virtual Reality for Rehabilitation of Intimate Partner Violence Perpetrators in Prison.

Virtual reality (VR) allows the user to be immersed in environments in which they can experience situations and social interactions from different perspectives by means of virtual embodiment. In the context of rehabilitation of violent behaviors, a participant could experience a virtual violent confrontation from different perspectives, including that of the victim and bystanders. This approach and other virtual scenes can be used as a useful tool for the rehabilitation of intimate partner violence (IPV) perpetrators, through improvement of their empathic skills or for training in non-violent responses. In this perspective, we revise and discuss the use of this tool in a prison environment for the rehabilitation of IPV perpetrators with a particular focus on practical aspects based on our experience.

Defending Victims, Practicing Restraint: God-Consciousness and the Use of Force in the Qur’an

The Qur’an speaks frequently of victims and the need to defend them—whether they are the marginalized, the oppressed, those who bring God’s word to a resistant people, or the early community of believers. However, the obligation to defend victims leads to the question of whether force can be used in their defense (including self-defense). Too often, this question is addressed by isolating passages that allow for the use of force, trying to identify their occasions of revelation, and considering whether later passages abrogate earlier ones. This approach suggests that the use of force or violence is an identifiable theme in the Qur’an, detachable from its broader message. However, the question of how and when force may be used is inseparable from the important Qur’anic notion of God-consciousness (taqwa), which ifs presupposed in the Qur’an when considering whether the use of force is justified. God-consciousness serves both as a source of restraint for those who would resort to violence out of anger or indignation, as well as a critical standard for those who find themselves conflicted over the possible use of force. Considering the question of the use of force in the defense of victims in light of God-consciousness shifts the focus away from isolated passages and arguments about abrogation to a more open and adaptable approach that calls into question the use of force as one option among others, and leaves open up the possibility of a non-violent response as entirely keeping with the spirit of the Qur’an.

Brigham Young and the Expansion of the Mormon Faith

Brigham Young and the Expansion of the Mormon Faith

Self-Defence and a Phronetic Use of Violence: A Christian Response to Muslim-mob Attacks in Northern Nigeria

Abstract The sermon on the mount has often been used to support a nonviolent response to any form of injustice and violent attacks against Christians. This article argues that the sermon, understood in its original Old and New Testament contexts, does not necessarily support a wholesale prohibition of the use of violence. It also argues that the implicit ethical theory of the sermon – and the New Testament in general – is a combination of a virtue ethics and a divine command theory. On this premise, one is able to show that a measured use of violence for self-defence is a theologically tenable Christian response to unauthorized attacks. This measured use of violence for self-defence is qualified by a Christian phronesis or practical wisdom, which takes into full account both the teaching of Jesus on love of the enemy and the contextual or existential realities of Christians facing violent attacks in northern Nigeria.

Taking Back Civic Space: Nonviolent Protests and Pushbacks against Autocratic Restrictions in Thailand

Abstract The year of 2020 witnessed the eruption of Thailand’s largest and longest-lasting mass demonstrations since the 2014 military putsch. Despite threats of crackdown, protesters leveraged a host of innovative nonviolent actions to reclaim political space that the regime had previously squeezed. This article sheds light on key mechanisms that underpin nonviolent actions’ ability to push back against a trend of shrinking space. We argue that the logic of nonviolent action, tactical and digital creativity, and counteracting repression operates in tandem. First, specific forms of nonviolent action carved out space for popular protest and increased public participation in it despite regime hindrances. Second, particularly tactical and digital creativity sustained this mass participation by reversing some effects of repression. Third, nonviolent responses to this repression encouraged further anti-regime mobilization. We conclude our analysis with some caveats. The Thai case shows that keeping regained space can be difficult.

Beliefs as Mediators of Relations Between Exposure to Violence and Physical Aggression During Early Adolescence.

This study examined beliefs about aggression and self-efficacy for nonviolent responses as mediators of longitudinal relations between exposure to violence and physical aggression. Participants were a predominantly African American (79%) sample of 2,705 early adolescents from three middle schools within urban neighborhoods with high rates of violence. Participants completed measures across four waves (fall, winter, spring, and summer) within a school year. Beliefs supporting proactive aggression, beliefs against fighting, and self-efficacy for nonviolence partially mediated relations between witnessing violence and physical aggression. Indirect effects for beliefs supporting proactive aggression and self-efficacy were maintained after controlling for victimization and negative life events. Beliefs supporting proactive aggression mediated the effects of violent victimization on physical aggression, but these effects were not significant after controlling for witnessing violence and negative life events. The findings underscore the importance of examining the unique pathways from witnessing community violence versus violent victimization to physical aggression.

Patterns of Adolescents' Appraisals of Responses to Problem Situations: Associations with Aggression, Victimization, and Contextual Factors.

Although considerable research has examined factors that influence social-cognitive processes related to aggression, few studies have examined the factors that influence adolescents' appraisal of the effectiveness of responses, particularly nonviolent alternatives to aggression. This study addressed that gap by examining patterns of adolescents' perceived effectiveness of nonviolent and aggressive responses to hypothetical problem situations and their relations with aggression, victimization, and individual and contextual risk factors. The participants were a predominantly African American (90%) sample of 1469 students (55% female; mean age = 12.7 years; age range = 11-16) from three middle schools who completed measures of perceived effectiveness, self-efficacy, aggression and victimization, and contextual factors. Ratings of adolescents' physical, relational, and verbal aggression and victimization, nonviolent and prosocial behavior were also obtained from their teachers. Latent class analysis identified four subgroups of adolescents including distinguishes effective, mixed support, everything works, and nothing works. Subgroups differed on measures of aggression, victimization, prosocial and nonviolent behavior, self-efficacy for nonviolence, witnessing community violence, and parents' and peers' support for nonviolence and aggression. The findings underscore the importance of designing violence prevention programs to target the unique needs of subgroups of adolescents.

Why They Don’t Fight: Explaining Non-violent Responses to Exclusion, Discrimination and Injustice among the Youth in Uganda

The youth has and continues to play a central role in various violent conflicts in Uganda. However, the majority of the youth does not participate in violence. This article explores factors that the youth utilises to respond to exclusion, discrimination and injustice without violence. Basing the research on grounded theory, a comparative study of participants from the Kampala and Jinja districts was conducted. Data was collected through interviews, focus group discussions and document reviews, and data analysis was conducted through open coding, axial coding, and selective coding to delineate explanations of the research problem. The findings revealed that the pursuit of self-advancement influenced the youth’s preference for non-violence to respond to exclusion, discrimination and injustice. Variations in the identity and cultural practices among victims of exclusion, discrimination and injustice notwithstanding, a range of internal and external factors combined to foster resilience and adaptation as responses to adversity among the youth who did not fight. During this process, resilience was not maintained as an end in itself but as a response undertaken to protect and pursue opportunities and pathways crafted towards self-advancement, especially of the individual and the family. Proactive action, self-regulation, problem-solving and the setting of clear expectations were found to be internal factors that facilitated resilience processes among those who did not fight. Positive peer influences, family environment, relationships with adults, education, groups and organisations that supported intellectual, emotional, moral, and behavioural competencies were some of the external factors that enabled victims of exclusion, discrimination and injustice to remain optimistic and to cope with adverse conditions. These factors can be cultivated among the youth through a range of national and community-level policies and programmes to promote non-violence and reduce youth participation in violence.

Patterns of Parental Messages Supporting Fighting and Nonviolence Among Urban Middle School Students.

The purpose of this study was to identify subgroups of adolescents with distinct perceptions of parental messages supporting fighting and nonviolence. Latent class analysis identified four subgroups among 2,619 urban middle school students (90% African American; 52% female): messages supporting fighting (32%), messages supporting nonviolence (29%), mixed messages (23%), and no messages (16%). We found significant differences across subgroups in their frequency of physical aggression and peer victimization and beliefs about the use of aggressive and nonviolent responses to peer provocation. Beliefs significantly mediated the relation between parental messages subgroups and both aggression and victimization. Findings illustrate the heterogeneity in the messages urban adolescents perceive from their parents, as well as relations with adolescents' beliefs and behavior.

The Violent Behavior Vignette Questionnaire (VBVQ): A Measure of Violent Behavior for Research in Forensic and Non-Forensic Settings and Populations.

The measurement of violent behavior presents serious challenges for research on violence. In the current article, we present initial tests of the construct validity of scores on the Violent Behavior Vignette Questionnaire (VBVQ), which consists of a series of interpersonal conflict vignettes with response options in a multiple-choice format designed to measure current violent behavior. Violent responses on the initial version of the VBVQ generally corresponded to independent indicators of physical aggressiveness and violent behavior among male university students, men in the community, and incarcerated male offenders. We then refined the VBVQ and again tested the validity of its scores in new samples of men in the community and incarcerated male offenders. In both samples, men who selected a violent response option on the VBVQ generally had much higher levels of physical aggressiveness and violent behavior than did men who selected non-violent response options. However, VBVQ responses were not associated with the number of violent offenses in offenders' official criminal records. Our findings provide some support for the use of the VBVQ in lab and correctional/forensic research, but further research is required to determine whether it offers advantages over other measures.

Adolescents’ appraisal of responses to problem situations and their relation to aggression and nonviolent behavior.

This study investigated adolescents' appraisals of responses to problematic situations and their relations to behavioral intentions for aggressive and nonviolent behavior. A key question was whether ratings of effective and ineffective nonviolent responses and aggressive responses reflect distinct constructs or opposite ends of a single dimension. A sample of 183 students at three middle schools in an urban public school system serving a mostly African American population completed measures of aggression, and rated responses to hypothetical situations on five dimensions: behavioral intention, effectiveness, descriptive norms, and anticipated reactions from friends and parents. Responses included nonviolent responses and aggressive responses to problematic situations identified in previous qualitative studies. Nonviolent responses were categorized as effective or ineffective based on ratings by a community sample of youth and adults. Confirmatory factor analyses supported separate factors representing ratings of effective responses and aggressive responses for each domain. Regression analyses indicated that ratings of aggressive responses were more strongly related to aggressive intentions, and ratings of effective responses were more strongly related to intentions to use effective responses. Adolescents who varied in their level of aggression differed in their ratings of aggressive and nonviolent responses. Those reporting higher levels of aggression showed less differentiation between effective and ineffective nonviolent responses compared with those reporting lower levels. These findings underscore the need for further efforts to identify factors that promote effective nonviolent behavior versus those that support aggression. They have important implications for the development of violence prevention programs.

Challenges, Distrust, and Understanding: Employing Communicative Action in Improving Trust in a Public Medical Sector in Uganda

We assessed how the everyday work challenges that frontline health workers (FRHWs) face in the government health sector in northern Uganda influence their trust in the Ministry of Health (MOH). We employed qualitative research techniques, including interviews and participant observation, over a 9-month period to examine FRHWs’ viewpoints about how the MOH should address these challenges in service delivery. One hundred and sixty-five FRHWs, of whom 48 were recruited for extensive follow-up, participated in our study. Key findings include distrust in the MOH is prevalent among FRHWs, there is a lack of trust in the organization’s coordination role in service delivery and this affects health care delivery to patients, interrelations, and provider cooperation. Therefore, restoring trust in government hospitals will require a truthful non-violent response by the MOH in its contractual agreement with FRHWs. In our analysis, we employ Habermas’s Theory of Communicative Action.

The Family Context and Adolescent Dating Violence: A Latent Class Analysis of Family Relationships and Parenting Behaviors.

Adolescent dating violence is a persistent public health concern, impacting many youths during their initial and formative relationships during middle school. Despite theoretical and empirical studies highlighting the essential role of family relationship dynamics and parenting practices in relation to youth violence, substantially less research has focused on associations between these factors and rates of adolescent dating violence. The current study examined aspects of the family context in relation to dating violence outcomes among a racially and ethnically diverse sample of middle school students from economically disadvantaged communities, a group of adolescents at a high risk for exposure to risk factors for dating violence. Participants included 495 adolescents (66% male; 63% African American). Data were collected at the beginning of sixth grade and three subsequent spring waves through eighth grade. The current study identified patterns of family factors using a latent class analysis and examined these classes in relation to dating violence and dating violence norms. Three classes emerged: a positive family context with mixed messages about parental support for fighting and nonviolence (42%), an average family context with consistent parental support for nonviolent responses to conflict (24%), and a poor family context with parental support for fighting (34%). The classes with average and positive family contexts showed the lowest levels of dating violence and dating violence norms. These findings support the development and integration of family context factors into adolescent dating violence prevention programs, especially within high-burden contexts where families may be more likely to endorse mixed messages about how to handle conflict and youth may be at a higher risk for dating violence outcomes.

Navigating Securities: Rethinking (Counter-)Terrorism, Stability Maintenance, and Non-Violent Responses in the Chinese Province of Xinjiang

ABSTRACT This article draws on critical scholarship on (counter-)terrorism as well as the authors’ long-term fieldwork (conducted in Xinjiang from 2005 to 2017) to explore not only the securitizing agency of the state and counter-securitizing agency of “terrorists” but also the manner in which other societal actors (involving street-level bureaucrats, local Imams, and ethnic inhabitants) interact with these processes in China. This article argues that the practice of security, both in the Chinese province of Xinjiang and across China, has a performative quality to it, which manifests in not merely the official regulations and propagandas, but also the localized responses to their bureaucratic operations in the state project of “stability maintenance.” While the “stability”-focused counter-terrorism activities in China involve supplementing the traditional model of retrospective intervention with a performance-based, preemptive approach that allows for more civic participation, the authors argue that the public performance of “stability” and “counter-terrorism” has become a means of professional advancement and/or survival for local cadres. In the unstable geopolitical environment of Xinjiang, where anxious contests have taken place between state and various non-state powers for control over territory, the government has been compelled to constantly seek out potential agents (referring in the present context to local cadres, Imams, and mosques) in order to forge local partnerships as part of the process of implementing counter-terrorism policies. The article examines how local cadres and ethnic inhabitants in Xinjiang, being motivated by their own survival and interests, react to and capitalize on the processes of implementing counter-terrorism policies in local societies, which ultimately challenges the ability of the state to rule and thus leads to unpredicted and unintended counter-terrorism policy outcomes.