The Experts below are selected from a list of 72 Experts worldwide ranked by ideXlab platform
Jana Krause - One of the best experts on this subject based on the ideXlab platform.
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Resilient Communities: Non-Violence and Civilian Agency in Communal War
2018Co-Authors: Jana KrauseAbstract:In Resilient Communities, Jana Krause focuses on Civilian Agency and mobilization 'from below' and explains violence and non-violence in communal wars. Drawing on extensive field research on ethno-religious conflicts in Ambon/Maluku Province in eastern Indonesia and Jos/Plateau State in central Nigeria, this book shows how Civilians responded to local conflict dynamics very differently, evading, supporting, or collectively resisting armed groups. Combining evidence collected from more than 200 interviews with residents, community leaders, and former fighters, local scholarly work (in Indonesian), and local newspaper-based event data analysis, this book explains Civilian mobilization, militia formation, and conflict escalation. The book's comparison of vulnerable mixed communities and (un)successful prevention efforts demonstrates how under courageous leadership resilient communities can emerge that adapt to changing conflict zones and collectively prevent killings. By developing the concepts of communal war and social resilience, Krause extends our understanding of local violence, (non-)escalation, and implications for prevention.
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Non-Violence and Civilian Agency in Communal War: Evidence from Jos, Nigeria
African Affairs, 2016Co-Authors: Jana KrauseAbstract:Communal violence is one of the deadliest forms of political violence in Nigeria. Research has yet to identify and explain the variation in spread and intensity of violence ‘within’ communal conflicts. This article analyses violence and non-violence in two almost contiguous neighbourhoods located in the city of Jos in central Nigeria that share ethnic, religious, and socio-economic similarities. It shows that structural factors such as geography, demography, or intervention by security forces do not predict non-violence. Rather, preventing killings during communal conflicts was contingent on Civilian Agency such as leadership, social control over internal youth, and refusal to collaborate with external armed groups. Drawing on narrative interviews, the article explores motivations for violence prevention and finds that knowledge concerning the organization of violence and lived experience in conflict zones were important factors that gave leaders the ability and confidence to persuade mobilized men not to start killings. These findings have important implications for the protection of Civilians in communal conflicts.
Juan Masullo - One of the best experts on this subject based on the ideXlab platform.
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Refusing to Cooperate with Armed Groups Civilian Agency and Civilian Noncooperation in Armed Conflicts
International Studies Review, 2021Co-Authors: Juan MasulloAbstract:AbstractConflict scholars have increasingly stressed the importance of taking Civilian Agency seriously for understanding how conflicts operate on the ground and the social legacies they leave behind. Among the different expressions of Civilian Agency that this scholarship has studied, instances in which Civilians refuse to collaborate with armed groups have captured particular attention. While this development is to be praised, the proliferation of neighboring terms (e.g., “voice,” “autonomy,” “civil action,” “oppositional Agency,” “resilience,” and “resistance”) menaces the further progression of this intellectually stimulating and policy relevant field of inquiry. In dialogue with the growing literature on Civilian Agency, and drawing on an established literature on concept formation, I propose Civilian noncooperation as the root concept to capture these instances and specify its meaning by identifying both necessary and accompanying attributes. I discuss the advantages of this concept and assess it vis á vis alternative terms and conceptualizations. Finally, I illustrate how these conceptual foundations provide a more solid basis for empirical research by introducing a descriptive typology and a database of Civilian noncooperation campaigns in the Colombian civil war. Research on noncooperation holds great potential to improving existing theories of conflict, as well as to inform crucial policy debates, including the protection of Civilians, peace-building, and post-conflict reconstruction. Conceptual rigor is central to fulfilling this potential.
Blöth Pauline - One of the best experts on this subject based on the ideXlab platform.
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Civilian Agency in Contexts of Organized Criminal Violence : The case of the bandas criminales in Colombia
Uppsala universitet Institutionen för freds- och konfliktforskning, 2019Co-Authors: Blöth PaulineAbstract:While research increasingly recognizes the importance of Civilian Agency and strategies in influencing conflict dynamics and reducing Civilian victimization in the context of armed conflict, research has until now not investigated whether Civilians also have the capacity to limit organized criminal violence. This study thus aims to answer under which conditions Civilians can protect themselves from and influence levels of organized criminal violence and draws on the literatures on Civilian self-protection and autonomy strategies in the context of armed conflict, as well as on organized criminal governance and violence. I argue that Civilian communities with high levels of social organization will experience lower levels of violence, as they are more likely to mount successful collective strategies that influence costs and benefits for organized crime groups to use violence. Using the method of structured focused comparison, this hypothesis is tested on the Colombian municipalities San Juan de Arama, Vistahermosa and Granada. The results show some support for the theorized relationship. In general, municipalities with higher levels of social organization experienced lower levels of organized criminal violence, but this relationship appears to be moderated by levels of civil war violence. Due to the explorative character of this study, more research is warranted
Kenneth R Mayer - One of the best experts on this subject based on the ideXlab platform.
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electoral cycles in federal government prime contract awards state level evidence from the 1988 and 1992 presidential elections
American Journal of Political Science, 1995Co-Authors: Kenneth R MayerAbstract:Theory: The political business-cycle theory is used to test for state-level accelerations in contract awards and deobligations induced by presidential elections. Hypotheses: Government contracting agencies accelerate contract awards, and reduce the level of deobligations, immediately before presidential elections. The cycles should not involve any total increase in spending. Methods: Pooled-time-series analysis of monthly Department of Defense and Civilian Agency contract awards and deobligations in each state between October 1985 and December 1992. Results: Both contract awards and deobligations behave as expected. Civilian Agency contract awards rise immediately before presidential elections and primaries, and both Department of Defense and Civilian Agency deobligation activity virtually cease as the elections approach. Although the total level of activity is unchanged in election years, the cycles are clear. This supports the notion that the cycles are important politically even though they have little macroeconomic impact.
Pauline Blöth - One of the best experts on this subject based on the ideXlab platform.
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Civilian Agency in Contexts of Organized Criminal Violence : The case of the bandas criminales in Colombia
2019Co-Authors: Pauline BlöthAbstract:While research increasingly recognizes the importance of Civilian Agency and strategies in influencing conflict dynamics and reducing Civilian victimization in the context of armed conflict, resear ...