International Journal of Conflict and Violence (IJCV - Universität Bielefeld)
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Dealing with Frustration: A Grounded Theory Study of CVE Practitioners
Full text linkUnderstanding how best to proceed in the prevention of violent extremism is a significant concern for researchers and practitioners. This paper draws on interviews with thirty ‘countering violent extremism’ (CVE) practitioners, using a grounded theory approach focusing on those working at grassroots level, to highlight the way in which these individuals are mining their own personal experiences in their approaches to this work. Driven by a sense of frustration with the ‘accepted wisdom’, this involves drawing on personal skills and experiences to establish themselves as credible actors, thereby carving a space for themselves within a growing CVE industry. Moving beyond anecdotal evidence using grounded theory, this paper offers a systematic analysis of the experiences of these frontline practitioners. In considering what it is that practitioners are doing, and the context that pushes them to adopt this approach, this research offers significant insights into what is actually happening in the area of practice, contributing to understandings of the prevention landscape as a whole. This paper highlights the tensions between actors operating at different levels within the CVE sphere, with discrepancies in resources and power playing a central role
Piecing Together Past and Present in Bhutan: Narration, Silence and Forgetting in Conflict
Full text linkWhat happens when conflict is silenced in official narratives but not forgotten among a population? This article explores this question using interview data from anthropological fieldwork in Bhutan. In Bhutan, the ethnic conflict of the early 1990s is surrounded by silence and is not openly discussed. Despite this silence, young Bhutanese have formed a multiplicity of narratives about the conflict. The article highlights three different narratives of conflict, as well as the oblivion found among informants. The main argument is that the silence surrounding the conflict in Bhutan has contributed to two forms of societal rift: between the authorities and the people, and between people themselves. The article contributes to the discussion about what role social memories play in conflicts, by suggesting that silence may cause wariness and hinder processes that help societies to move past conflict in a constructive way
Terrorism as a Self-Organised Criticality Phenomenon
Full text linkAn examination of the heuristic capabilities of the self-organized criticality (SOC) theory for studying social processes, reviewing key ideas of the theory and the methods of identifying pink noise as an SOC attribute. The authors analyze terrorism in twenty countries in the period from 1970s to 2014. The source of the background data is the Global Terrorism Database, maintained by the START Consortium. SOC approaches and methodology were used to identify and explain such non-linear effects as spontaneous outbreaks of terrorism. It is found that numerical series that reflect changes in the terrorism volume are essentially pink noise. This allowed the universal explanatory schemes of SOC theory to be applied to interpret such systems features and dynamics and demonstrate that in many countries, terrorism is a self-organized criticality phenomenon. Systems in the state of SOC are capable of abrupt growth in activity without any apparent reason. One of the parameters of the numerical series studied ‒ power-law exponent ‒ can serve as an indicator of the internal state of the societies prone to terror threats
Explaining Homegrown Western Jihadists: The Importance of Western Foreign Policy
Full text linkIn both the United States and Europe, explanations of homegrown radicalization emphasize the power of Salafi-jihadist ideology and Muslim experiences of discrimination and socioeconomic deprivation in Western countries. Polls of U.S. and European Muslims, and case histories of jihadist plots for attacks in the United States, indicate that another source of homegrown radicalization is Western foreign policy, especially Western interventions in predominantly Muslim countries. Poll results support a two-factor model in which seeing the war on terrorism as a war on Islam is predicted by both perceived discrimination and grievance related to Western foreign policy. Consistent with this model, UK practitioners in counter-radicalization programs find it useful to recognize Muslim grievances related to Western foreign policy in order to argue that violence does not reduce Muslim suffering. These observations indicate that Muslim grievances relating to Western foreign policy are important for under - standing and countering support for jihadist violence in Western countries
Can Societies Experience Post-Traumatic Growth after a Terror Attack? The Influence of Terror Attacks on Political, Institutional, and Social Trust in European Countries
Full text linkResearch shows that people are less likely to have mental health problems after a disaster, if they feel that they have learned from it and grown as a person. This phenomenon that a traumatic experience can have positive consequences is called “posttraumatic growth.” In the current study, we investigate whether inhabitants of countries can also experience post-traumatic growth after a large-scale traumatic experience, namely a terror attack. We examined data from the European Social Survey with 75,805 participants for thirteen European countries at one moment before a terror attack and two after it. If inhabitants of these countries experienced post-traumatic growth in terms of government, then we would expect their political and institutional trust to increase after a terror attack. In terms of post-traumatic growth of community, we expected social trust to increase. Our results suggest that, overall, post-traumatic growth does not occur. Specifically, political trust does not change significantly after a terror attack; institutional trust decreases directly after, only to increase again later. In terms of community, social trust remains largely unaffected after a terror attack. Interestingly, this overall pattern does not occur in all individual countries: in-depth analyses indicate a pattern in line with post-traumatic growth for specific countries. We discuss potential expla - nations
Humanising the Actors and Working through the Conflict: The Role of Kurdish Literary Narratives and Culture in the Reconciliation Process in Turkey
Full text linkThis paper examines the modern Kurdish literary narratives and their application to the potential reconciliation between Kurds and Turks. It argues that while the subtle forms of dehumanisation of the Kurds are still entrenched in the Turkish state policy and popular media production – hampering the peace process – Kurdish literary narratives might be helpful in changing the dominant image of the Kurds, humanising them, and stimulating the process of reconciliation. Moreover, they offer diverse perspectives which may assist reconciliation. The peace process in Turkey started in 2009, intensified in 2013, and collapsed in 2015. At the same time, Kurdish culture has not been fully recognised, and it did not become a meaningful factor in the process of ending military conflict and establishing dialogue. The author offers an interdisciplinary approach, focusing on Paul Ricœur’s reflection on reconciliation and forgiveness, the results of socio-psychological study on the subtle forms of dehumanisation, and the role of literature in reconciliation with regard to the imagined contact hypothesis. Martha Nussbaum and Lawrence Hinman’s ideas on moral imagination are also applied to examine examples from Kurdish contemporary literature
Chinese Schools of Wisdom on Conflict Resolution and Their Relevance to Contemporary Public Governance: A Contingent Framework
Full text linkThe literature concerning conflict resolution in public governance largely ignores comparative cross-cultural settings. This study investigates Chinese schools of thought on conflict resolution and their relevance to contemporary public governance. Based on a review of the literature and a cross-cultural approach examining Chinese thought and experience, the study describes the different philosophies, methods, and principles of conflict resolution in China. It shows that eight major Chinese schools of thought comprise a continuum of methods (in terms of force vs. peace) and form a contingent framework for Chinese conflict resolution. The findings are of great relevance for contemporary public governance and provide new openings for improving conflict resolution methods
“They Think We Are a Threat to Their Culture”: Meta-Cultural Threat Fuels Willingness and Endorsement of Extremist Violence against the Cultural Outgroup
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Violence in Place: Reading Violence through Kincentric Ecology
Full text linkThis article explores violence in place, with the intent to more broadly configure the notion of violence within sociological and anthropological discourse. So too it strives to expand the field of inquiry into the effects of human-induced violence on the place world, as made up of homelands, villages, communities, and ancestral realms. Throughout the discussion links are drawn between three particular forms of violence and their harmful effects on place: the physical destruction of place, the de-signification and social disordering of place identity and character, and elemental decay as ecological decline and toxicity in place. I argue that particular epistemic habits and dispositions allow for such violence to be carried out, in the pursuit of power, authority, land, and resources. Furthermore, other epistemic habits and dispositions, namely those provided for by Indigenous epistemologies, might present pathways out from unmitigated violence and towards practices of refrain and axiological return. I propose that this is achievable through a return to kincentricity, as expressed through human responsibility over rights, and recognition of place agency and sentiency as expressed through local empiricism