Political Violence Research Articles

Beyond conformity: King Pinn's counter-hegemonic rap in post-2000 ZANUfied Zimbabwe

The post-2000 period in Zimbabwe is known as the decade of the crisis because of rising poverty, hyperinflation, a collapsed economy, poor service delivery, political violence, and a myriad of problems that made the lives of the majority of Zimbabweans precarious. It was also the period of the land reform programme which the government embarked on to, among many other reasons, galvanise the ruling party’s waning political fortunes. The land reform programme was complemented by an ultra-nationalist imaginary which took the form of the 75% (later upgraded to 100%) local content policy for radio and television. The policy was meant to create cultural support for ZANU – PF’s land exercise by rejecting the cultural products of western countries. These western countries, in ZANU – PF parlance, were enemies of Zimbabwe because of their oppositional stance towards the land reform exercise. Thus, the 100% local content became a way of policing musical production to make it agree with this anti-western stance. The Urban Grooves movement of the post-2000 period emerged from this policy change and dominated Zimbabwe’s airwaves for a decade. This movement was not a musical genre per se but a mish-mash of genres comprising dancehall, soul, Afro-pop, house, hip-hop, among others. Using Zimbabwe’s hip-hop music, with special reference to the late King Pinn’s ‘I Salute You’, this paper explores how youth artists operated in post-2000 ZANUfied and Mugabeist Zimbabwe. Did their musical practices pander to the policing whims of the state? Did they, contrary to the state’s expectations, come up with alternative identities that sought to challenge the ZANUist political hegemony of their time? If youth cultures can act as conveyors of alternative phenomenological forms of social and political reality and as indicators of ideological resistance, how have Zimbabwean hip-hop artists acted as conveyors of ideological resistance?

Practice Elements Used in Child Mass Trauma Interventions: A Systematic Review.

The goals of this analysis were to identify practice elements frequently used in child mass trauma interventions and to determine if these elements differed across interventions with respect to type of event addressed. The most frequent elements used were psychoeducation for the child, affect modulation, relaxation, cognitive techniques, exposure, support networking, and narrative. The most frequently used elements were similar for political violence and natural disaster interventions but differed for COVID-19 interventions. Similarities in elements used in political violence and natural disaster interventions reflect the all-hazards approach to mass trauma response. Differences for COVID-19 interventions may address distinctions between the pandemic and these events and underscore the importance of considering an expanded set of elements in future research. The findings suggest that characteristics of the event as well as the population receiving the intervention and the context should guide the selection of interventions and intervention elements.

Organizational form and fatalities in Michoacán’s vigilante movement, 2012–2015

ABSTRACT On the basis of quantitative and interview data on an armed vigilante movement in the Mexican state of Michoacán, we demonstrate that the variation in violence among different types of armed groups is partly a function of their intra-organizational dynamics. We show that patron-sponsored groups were significantly more likely to engage in armed combat, to kill and to die within and beyond the boundaries of their respective communities, than were the community-sponsored armed groups. We conclude that organizational form affects intra-group relations, strategy, and outcomes in ways that help to explain the extent of political violence engaged by armed groups.

Framing victims and perpetrators: Local and international reporting on the International Criminal Court case against Dominic Ongwen

Building on research on victims and perpetrators of political violence and their depiction in the media, this article highlights the conceptual and practical challenge of specifying the process by which individuals acquire a morally ambiguous or ‘complex’ status in conflict. The authors conduct a content analysis of English-language print reporting on Dominic Ongwen’s International Criminal Court case and ambiguous status as a child soldier and victim–perpetrator. They identify important variation in how different news media frame the processes through which an individual becomes a victim–perpetrator and how these depictions relate to understandings of agency as well as transitional justice and post-conflict societal transformations. The article presents a framework for understanding how individuals are seen as ‘turning’ from one category of conflict-affected individual to another category as depicted in the news media.

Trends in views of democracy and society and support for political violence in the USA, 2022–2024: findings from a nationally representative survey

BackgroundIn 2022, a nationally representative longitudinal survey in the USA found concerningly high prevalences of support for and personal willingness to engage in political violence, but those prevalences decreased in 2023. This study examines changes in those prevalences from 2023 to 2024, an election year in the USA.MethodsParticipants were members of Ipsos KnowledgePanel. Wave 3 of the survey was conducted May 23-June 14, 2024; invitations to participate were sent to all respondents to prior waves who remained in KnowledgePanel. Outcome measures concern justification for the use of violence to advance any of 17 specified political objectives, personal willingness to engage in political violence at 4 levels of severity and against 9 target populations, and expectation of firearm use in political violence. Outcomes are expressed as weighted proportions. Year-to-year change is based on the means of aggregated individual change scores, which have a potential range from 0 (no change) to ± 2.ResultsThe 2024 completion rates were 88.4% (8896 respondents/10,064 invitees) overall, 91.6% (8185 respondents/8932 invitees) for invitees in 2024 who had responded in 2023, and 62.8% (711 respondents/1132 invitees) for invitees in 2024 who had responded in 2022 but not in 2023. After weighting, 50.9% (95% confidence interval (CI) 49.5%, 52.3%) were female; weighted mean (SD) age was 48.5 (24.9) years. From 2023 to 2024, the prevalence of the view that violence was usually or always justified to advance at least 1 political objective did not change (2024: 26.2%, 95% CI 25.0%, 27.5%; 2023: 25.3%, 95% CI 24.1%, 26.5%). There were no changes from 2023 to 2024 in willingness to damage property, threaten a person, injure a person, or kill a person in an act of political violence, and no changes in expectations of firearm use in situations where respondents considered political violence justifiable. Changes on other measures were infrequent (17 of 58 comparisons in the main analysis) and small where they occurred (with 2 exceptions, change < 0.05).ConclusionsContrary to expectation, support for and willingness to participate in political violence in this cohort showed little to no change from 2023 to 2024, an election year in the USA. These findings can help guide prevention efforts.

American Political Violence (The Government and Opposition/Leonard Schapiro Lecture 2023)

Abstract Amongst the ways in which American democracy is distinct, the Weberian anomaly stands out: the United States equates to a classical Weberian state with the routine trappings of bureaucratic power, national organization, stable territorial parameters, a legal code and military power. But it is at best a quasi-Weberian state in respect of state monopolization of legitimate violence. The scope of the Second Amendment means the federal government has control in many instances over the use of physical force but historically this authority coexists with the (explicit or implicit) delegation of political violence to societal actors. In this article I argue that the legitimation of political violence outside the state is endogenous to the American constitutional settlement, a feature which arises from the country's origins and the institutional arrangements adopted in key constitutional clauses and judicial decisions.

Varieties of Populist Attitudes in Brexit Britain: Socio-Political and Psychological Correlates of a New Multi-dimensional Scale

Populism is usually understood as a complex multi-dimensional phenomenon that encompasses different manifestations. However, most studies on the demand-side adopt a parsimonious minimal definition approach that hinders the ability to capture different forms of populism and the variable weight of its components. This article tests a new multi-dimensional strategy to measure and compare populist and pluralist attitudes in the context of Brexit Britain. We explore the relationship between populism and Britons’ socio-political views – on borders, democracy, governance, identity, and the European Union – and psychological traits – such as conspiracy belief, social alienation, justification of political violence, and meaning in life—. Our new Multi-dimensional Populist Attitudes Scale (MPAS) reveals two varieties of populism, ‘aspirational/subversive’ and ‘identitarian/protective’, and a non-populist ‘moderate/pluralist’ archetype. The new items introduced in the MPAS can complement (or become an alternative to) extant scales especially in contexts where populist movements do not fully fit narrow conceptualisations of populism.

The Invisible Majority: Rural Women, Digital Campaigns, and Political Violence

Research on gender-based violence (GBV) has primarily focused on non-political dimensions, while studies specifically on political gender-based violence (PGBV) tend to be reductionist, often centering on elite women candidates running for office. This narrow focus overlooks the experiences of rural women, who represent a vulnerable majority in political spaces and are increasingly affected by political violence including, and increasingly so, within digital environments. Moreover, the study of PGBV in virtual or digital spaces remains limited. This study attempted to address this gap by examining the experiences of rural women with gendered political violence in digital spaces with the aim of offering insights to both academic and policy cycles. Using a sequential exploratory mixed methods design and inspired by Intersectional Feminist framework (Crenshaw, 1991, improved by Hawk, 2015), this study investigates the influence of gender on rural voters’ experiences of PGBV across nine identified digital domains. Data were gathered from self-administered surveys in-depth qualitative interviews and focus groups discussions with rural voters and electoral policymaker and implementers from 2 sub-counties and 4 Wards from Siaya County. The study explored specific grounds for political violence, including social media harassment and intimidation, disinformation campaigns and character assassination, cyberstalking and surveillance, non-consensual sharing of private information (doxing), coercive use of messaging platforms, exclusion from digital campaign engagement, manipulative use of deepfakes and altered media, sexual harassment in virtual campaign spaces, and exploitation via mobile money scams. Findings reveal three key insights with implications for extant literature, policy, and gender mainstreaming initiatives. First, the relationships between gender and Political violence and digital politics are more nuanced than currently understood, underscoring the need to acknowledge and transform elitist ontologies in literature, policy and programming. Second, digital spaces offer challenges that must be addressed to advance meaningful gender mainstreaming for attainment of gender parity in politics. Finally this study provides a foundational list of variables, which though are neither conclusive nor comprehensive, can inform future, non-elite-focused analyses of PGBV. Overall, the study findings contribute to a broader understanding of PGBV in digital spaces, particularly from the perspective of vulnerable rural women (and rural voters generally).

Social Unrest, Political Violence, and War

Social Unrest, Political Violence, and War

Gender biases and hate speech: Promoters and targets in the Argentinean political context.

Hate speech found in social media a place to flourish. In the Argentinean context, new right-wing parties have disrupted the political arena, winning the elections of 2023. Many of these new right-wing figures grew in popularity due to their use of social media, on a background of increasing political violence. In this article, we use quantitative and qualitative tools to investigate the prevalence of hate speech targeting women politicians and analyze the role of different political affiliations in promoting such discourse. Furthermore, we propose a model that predicts users' political alignments based on their profile descriptions, allowing us to explore the distribution of hate speech among different political orientations. Our results provide a descriptive account of the relationship between hate speech by politicians and other users and shows that right-wing political figures and supporters are strong emissors of hate speech, while women, especially those from the left-wing are more prone to receive violent content.

Commentary on "Consumed by Creed".

"Consumed by Creed" is a research article that suggests a link between obsessive-compulsive symptoms and support for political violence. Analyzing the article and the data set provided by the authors, we found errors in their methodology and procedures, accompanied by a high degree of researcher freedom that could have led to the finding of false-positive results. Given the important political and psychological implications of the claimed findings and the weakness of the evidence presented, we recommend substantial caution in interpreting the results reported in the article, and we urge researchers to drastically improve current research practices in the field of radicalization to ensure that policy decisions are based on valid and reliable evidence.

DRAG AS PERFORMANCE, THERAPY, ACTIVISM, AND PERSONAL EXPRESSION: WHAT OLDER DRAG ARTISTS TEACH US

Abstract Drag artists (also described as drag performers, drag queens, and drag kings) have contributed to world cultures for centuries. Drag artistry, as tied to sexual and gender minority (SGM) communities and aging, is the focus of this presentation. The 20th and 21st centuries have been a poignant time for drag artists in the United States, as they have emerged as national and community leaders, been subject to political attack and violence, and contributed to mainstream and sexual and gender minority cultures. Older adult drag artists hold rich lived experiences and collectively share in episodic events that can be seen as traumatic, unifying, and celebrative. However, this population of older adults is grossly underrepresented in the literature. This symposium includes four presentations bridging behavioral science (individual development and wellbeing), social policy, and practice (drama therapy) of older drag artists. The first presentation frames current anti-drag policies aimed broadly at SGM communities in the United States. The second presentation provides a feminist, gender, and queer theoretical lens for examining the experiences of older drag artists, particularly the topics of homophobia, and ageism. The third presentation presents findings from a mixed methods study examining the intersection of aging, drag artistry, and individual wellbeing. The final presentation details a study on coping mechanisms of older drag artists through the lens of drama therapy clinical assessment. Collectively these papers highlight theory and qualitative and quantitative analysis illuminating themes of resilience, coping, commitment, and conscientiousness that illustrate fortitude within this population of influential artists.

Ideological religious nationalism: measurement, construct validity, and cross-cultural comparisons

ABSTRACT Ideological religious nationalism (IRN) is a worldview that advocates the integration of religious beliefs with national policy and laws and the religious moralization of politics. However, the psychological mechanisms, individual differences, and socio-political consequences related to IRN are unclear. Across five studies (N Total = 1,349), we established construct validity for a novel scale assessing IRN that is adaptable across different contexts. Results showed that stronger IRN relates to distinct psychological motives, domains of religiosity, and views of one’s nation. Results also showed that stronger IRN relates to supporting policies that promote religious-national integration and support of political violence. Lastly, results show that this novel IRN scale can be used across different contexts and has incremental validity beyond similar but distinct measures of religious nationalism. Overall, results showed that IRN can successfully capture people’s integration of their religious beliefs with their views about their nation’s identity.

Envy, Emotional Urgency, and Radicalization: The Impulsive Route is Paved in Malice

ABSTRACT Impulsivity is recognized as a significant radicalization risk factor, yet its underlying mechanisms remain unclear. Previous research suggests that impulsive actions are emotionally driven. If so, the recently proposed envy-as-radicalization model may clarify this relationship, providing insights into radicalized individuals’ dramatic cognitive and behavioral transformations. The current study hypothesizes that envy mediates the relationship between impulsivity and radicalization, a connection not previously tested. Data from 649 participants measured dispositional and situational envy, impulsivity (Negative Emotional Urgency, Positive Emotional Urgency, and Lack of Premeditation), and radicalization (Extremist Attitudes, Endorsement of Political Violence). Results indicate that impulsivity and envy positively correlate with Extremist Attitudes and support for Political Violence. Controlling for Negative and Positive Urgency, Lack of Premeditation ceased to predict radicalization. Envy mediated the relationship between Negative Urgency and radicalization. This relationship suggests an impulsive-envious pathway to aggression, where neutralizing perceived social competitors takes precedence over other strategies, such as competition, submission, or avoidance. Positive Urgency followed Dispositional Envy in the model, potentially because positive emotions like schadenfreude reinforce further aggression. The study provides new insights into the roles of impulsivity and envy in radicalization and recommends investigating their relationship with criminality in future research, particularly among high-risk populations.

When truth is not shared

Political violence has, for a very long time, been a focus of academic interest in various disciplines, probing the relentlessly cyclic nature of violence and counter-violence. This essay looks at the Israeli-Palestinian conflict with reference to the map of links by means of which Bion conceptualized the relations between two individuals, giving special attention to how negative configurations of these links impede contact with truth on both sides. Relating to theoretical writings by Baudrillard, Benjamin, and Arendt, this essay suggests replacing planar with spatial thinking and the condition of revenge with that of forgiveness.

Exposure to violence and psychosocial trauma among Sudanese survivors

PurposeThis paper aims to investigates the experiences of violence among Sudanese survivors and the associated mental health outcomes, including posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and anxiety disorders. It highlights the variety, frequency and severity of political violence exposure and its impact on psychological trauma.Design/methodology/approachA cross-sectional quantitative study used data from 324 Sudanese youth exposed to violence. A self-rated 17-item questionnaire assessed violence exposure types and frequency. The General Health Questionnaire and the Davidson Trauma Scale evaluated mental health.FindingsHigh levels of PTSD and poor general mental health were found in 60% of the youth. Exposure included brutal beatings (47%), physical torture (17%) and sexual violence (2%), with 47% enduring hours of torture.Research limitations/implicationsThe cross-sectional design limits causal inferences, and self-reported data may introduce biases. Future studies should use longitudinal designs and consider cultural factors to better understand the long-term effects of political violence.Practical implicationsThe study highlights the need for systematic trauma screening and targeted psychosocial support programs for Sudanese youth, particularly for underrepresented young adult males, to address significant trauma effectively.Originality/valueThis research provides novel insights into the mental health impact of political violence on Sudanese youth, offering valuable evidence to inform policies and programs aimed at supporting this vulnerable population.

Exposure to violence and other determinants of health literacy among Palestinian adolescents: a cross-sectional study

BackgroundUnderstanding health literacy and its predictors is fundamental for adolescents to have healthy lives. This study investigated the association between exposure to violence and other factors with health literacy levels among Palestinian middle school students.MethodsThis cross-sectional study included middle school students. We used the validated Arabic version of the Health Literacy Assessment Scale for Adolescents to measure health literacy levels, and asked adolescents 11 questions to assess whether they were exposed to various forms of violence. We used binary logistic regression to identify the factors associated with each health literacy subscale.ResultsAmong the 816 students, 20.4%, 30.5%, and 50.5% had low functional, confusion, and communication health literacy levels, respectively. Exposure to political violence was significantly associated with lower levels of functional health literacy (OR: 2.65, 95%CI: 1.71–4.08) and low confusion health literacy (OR: 1.96, 95%CI: 1.31–2.94). Domestic and school violence were associated with low levels of confusion health literacy (OR: 1.82, 95%CI: 1.30–2.55).ConclusionExposure to different forms of violence predicted low levels of health literacy among Palestinian middle school students. This study identified the need for middle school students to acquire the skills required to analyse and integrate the health information they receive. Therefore, there is a need for regular interventions that target an increase in their critical health literacy.

On the proximity of the far right and the misuses of the ‘mainstreaming’ metaphor

ABSTRACT A recent body of work has examined the normalization of far-right ideas and political violence. This is often referred to as the ‘mainstreaming’ of the far right. This article explores some of the unintended consequences of this explanation. I argue that even critical appraisals of mainstreaming – which generally implicate not only the far right, but the mainstream as well – can nevertheless work to ontologize the far right and mainstream as distinct, separable entities. I argue that contrary to the aims of such critical appraisals, this can obscure the proximity the far right has always had to the mainstream. I characterize this manoeuvre as a ‘White Reconstruction’ (Rodríguez 2021), which discursively portrays the far right as an aberration of liberal society, rather than recognizing it as a continuation of liberalism’s foundational logics, including its attendant racism, nationalism, misogyny and white supremacy.

Beyond borders: Navigating non-traditional security challenges in Central Asia

Since the end of the Cold War, non-traditional security threats have been a significant concern for five post-communist Central Asian powers, namely Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Kazakhstan. Security strategy for Central Asian powers remains predominantly entrenched in hard or military-oriented security. However, the contemporary challenges to regional security in Central Asia are related to human security stemming from the growth of transnational criminal groups, illegal immigration, water security, climate change, and others. Determining how non-traditional threats have impacted regional stability in Central Asia is, thus, the primary objective of this research. The descriptive method, a prominent social research method, sheds light on the recurrent pattern and meaning of complex security issues affecting CARs. The data is collected both from primary and secondary sources such as government reports, e-resources, news articles, journal articles, and others, to facilitate a deeper understanding of the different dimensions of security issues. By juxtaposing both data, this article highlights the interlink between traditional and non-traditional security challenges. The findings of this study suggest that Central Asian republics are required to become more resilient to shocks from the inside and avoid state failure. Sustainable development strategies must be embraced by governments with support from major powers such as Russia, China, and the US to lessen the political unrest, violence, and conflicts.

Hostile Sexism, Social Dominance Orientation, Political Illiberalism, and Support for Political Violence in the United States

Hostile Sexism, Social Dominance Orientation, Political Illiberalism, and Support for Political Violence in the United States