Political Violence

This Section, sponsored by the ECPR Standing Group on Political Violence, addresses current debates and newly emerging topics in the field of political violence. It brings together scholars across disciplines and welcomes Papers dealing with various forms and manifestions of political violence, ranging from street violence, rioting and clandestine violent campaigns to civil wars and pro-government militias. Papers can be both theoretical and empirical. They can analyse e.g. spatial and temporal dynamics of political violence, individual and collective process of radicalisation and de-radicalisation, relationships between violent and non-violent tactics, as well as interactions between violent groups and other actors (including broader movements and milieus, security services, the media, and political opponents). Also Papers analysing the measures taken to prevent or counter various forms of political violence are welcome. Particularly welcome are Papers that apply multidisciplinary perspectives to political violence, extending beyond the common approaches of political science and sociology. The Section consists of six confirmed Panels and additional Panels which will be added depending on the number of submissions. *Paper proposals are warmly welcome to both confirmed and additional panels.* The Section also accepts paper proposals related to political violence that do not directly fall into any of the listed Panels. Confirmed Panels: 1. Right-wing violence: charting the field of research Chair: Anders Ravik Jupskås, Discussant: Jacob Aasland Ravndal This Panel maps out change and continuity in right-wing violence and discusses newly emerging approaches to this field of research. The purpose is to compare results, data and methods and thereby critically discuss the state of research and ways forward. In particular, the Panel invites contributions based on quantitative or comparative research on right-wing violence at the local, national or transnational level, as well as Papers that critically assess concept and analytical paradigms. 2. Urban violence: Events, forms, actors and spaces Chairs: Dr Zoha Waseem (University College London) and Andrea Varsori (King’s College London) Discussant: Raquel da Silva (University of Birmingham) Research into the dynamics of urban violence is increasingly challenging long-standing conceptual and disciplinary borders. The particular features of urban spaces have led to the emergence of hybrid actors, whose dynamics defy any rigid categorisation, and the boundaries between state and non-state actors and between criminal and political forms of violence are also blurring (e.g. in the case of street gangs and football hooliganism). This Panel welcomes interdisciplinary research that examines violent events, actors, and processes in urban spaces, including the causes, consequences and dynamics of protests, riots, and other forms of urban violence, and how states respond to them. 3. Deranged loners or “leaderless resistance”? Lone actor terrorism in context Chairs: Lasse Lindekilde (Aarhus University) and Stefan Malthaner (Hamburg Institute for Social Research) Violent attacks perpetrated by individuals who are not part of, or directed by, a terrorist organization are a major concern for western democracies. This Panel invites Papers on a broad range of aspects of lone-actor radicalization, including individual case studies and relational mechanisms of isolation and radicalization, the particular role of online communications, as well as perspectives that look at broader patterns of lone actor attacks or strategic aspects of “leaderless resistance”. 4. Radicalization: experiential, emotional and situational dimensions Chair: Hilary Pilkington (Manchester University) Discussant: Stefan Malthaner (Hamburg Institute for Social Research) Attempts to identify distinct terrorist profiles and trajectories of radicalisation reveal that the sheer diversity and internal dynamics of contexts in which radicalization manifests makes it difficult to find consistent patterns. Drawing, in particular, on ethnographic studies of ‘Islamist’ and ‘anti-Islamist/extreme right’ milieus across European countries, this Panel discusses, what recently emerging theoretical approaches can bring to our understanding of radicalization, focusing, in particular, on the experiential, emotional or situational dimensions of radicalisation. 5. Explaining restraint in militant groups Chairs: Tore Bjorgo (Oslo University) and Joel Busher (Coventry University) Whereas most studies on political violence focus on the emergence and escalation of violence, it is evident that there are also mechanisms of restraint. Militants often do not act as violent as they could or as other actors expected them to. This Panel addresses dynamics of internal social control, self-restraint, as well as mechanism limiting the use of violence 6. Political violence and pro-government militias Chair: David Maher (University of Salford) This Panel investigates an emerging area of interest within studies into political violence: understanding the impacts of pro-government militias (PGMs), also commonly referred to as paramilitaries, civil militias and civil defence forces. The Panel aims to provide a forum for critical scholarly engagement amongst researchers focusing on PGMs, with an aim to provide a platform for such research within the ECPR’s Standing Group on Political Violence. Additional panels 7. Radical Islamist activism and violence Chair: Leena Malkki (University of Helsinki) This Panel welcomes all Papers that that address radical Islamist violent activism, especially in the western context. The Panel hopes to contribute to deeper and more structured academic understanding of this multifaceted phenomenon. The Papers can deal with e.g. relationship between violent and non-violent forms of activism, transnational dimensions of radical Islamist activism, the foreign fighter mobilization and its aftermath. Particularly welcome are Papers based on empirical research, as well as Papers that aim to take distance from the ”terrorism” and ”radicalisation” frames that tend to dominate the public debate. 8. Explaining violence between rival oppositional groups Chair: Jacob Aasland Ravndal While most right-wing violence in contemporary Western democracies is targeted against people perceived as foreigners, the second largest target group are left-wing activists. Furthermore, the primary target group of left-wing violence appears to be people perceived as members of the far right. Recently, we have also seen increased tension and violent interaction between so-called militant anti-fascists and far right activists in a number of European countries as well as in the United States. To develop more updated knowledge about the dynamics of violence between oppositional groups. Both qualitative and quantitative approaches are welcome. 9. The securitisation of the everyday Chair: Giuditta Fontana (University of Birmingham) In the last decade, several countries have invoked the principle of duty of care to justify new protocols in areas such as education, healthcare, and social care. Professionals in these areas have become responsible for identifying and referring ostensibly radicalised individuals. Elsewhere, reforms of identity-sensitive milieus (such as education) have been portrayed as affecting the security of communities in conflict-affected societies. Even studies on heavily securitised topics, such as terrorism and political violence, have been increasingly framed as and by security concerns. In this context, extraordinary means and procedures are invoked in the name of security. 10. The outbreak and prevention of riots Chair: Adam Brodie (Oxford University) This Panel addresses the dynamics of collective violence in episodes commonly referred to as ”riots” – both in the form of communal ethnic conflicts and anti-state protests. In addition to Papers examining the outbreak and spread of violence, it welcomes contributions on the question how riots can be prevented. This includes the role of dissuasion as well as coercion, and intervention by activists or social workers as well as the escalating or de-escalating effects of strategies of policing.