Does democracy reduce state repression as human rights activism, funding, and policy suggest? What are the limitations of this argument? Investigating 137 countries from 1976 to 1996, State Repression and the Domestic Democratic Peace seeks to shed light on these questions. Specifically, it finds that electoral participation and competition generally reduces personal integrity violations like torture and mass killing; other aspects of democracy do not wield consistent influences. This negative influence can be overwhelmed by conflict, however, and thus there are important qualifications for...

Recent events have profoundly changed our ways of understanding and studying contentious politics. With case studies that range from Germany to Guatemala, the authors take up topics as varied as the dynamic interactions between protesters and policing agents, distinctions between "hard" and "soft" repression, the impact of media on our understanding of political contention, the timing and shape of protest and resistance cycles, and how measurements of social and geographic control influence states' responses to insurgencies. Together these essays synthesize what we know about repression and...

In was the summer of 2001 when political scientists and sociologists gathered at the University of Virginia to present new information and assess the status of study about political mobilization and political repression. The 10 papers presented and printed here focus on interactions between protesters and police; case studies come from Germany, the

In the last ten years, there has been a resurgence of interest in repression and violence within states. Paths to State Repression improves our understanding of why states use political repression, highlighting its relationship to dissent and mass protest. The authors draw upon a wide variety of political-economic contexts, methodological approaches, and geographic locales, including Cuba, Nicaragua, Peru, Sri Lanka, Indonesia, Israel, Eastern Europe, and Africa. This book is invaluable to all who wish to better understand why central authorities violate and restrict human rights and how...

A powerful, enraging, tear-jerking reminder of how so few Americans have sacrificed so much during the so-called' war on terror'. the best kind of war book. - Alex Kershaw, author of The Bedford Boys and Escape from the Deep

""Through the voices and experiences of five very diverse members of the Virginia National Guard, As You Were gives the great majority of Americans who have not been sent to war a sense of the experiences of our citizen-soldiers and the family, employment, and health problems they face reentering American society after experiencing combat."" -...

This book examines information reported within the media regarding the interaction between the Black Panther Party and government agents in the Bay Area of California (1967 1973). Christian Davenport argues that the geographic locale and political orientation of the newspaper influences how specific details are reported, including who starts and ends the conflict, who the Black Panthers target (government or non-government actors), and which part of the government responds (the police or court). Specifically, proximate and government-oriented sources provide one assessment of events, whereas...

This book examines information reported within the media regarding the interaction between the Black Panther Party and government agents in the Bay Area of California (1967 1973). Christian Davenport argues that the geographic locale and political orientation of the newspaper influences how specific details are reported, including who starts and ends the conflict, who the Black Panthers target (government or non-government actors), and which part of the government responds (the police or court). Specifically, proximate and government-oriented sources provide one assessment of events, whereas...

Does democracy reduce state repression as human rights activism, funding, and policy suggest? What are the limitations of this argument? Investigating 137 countries from 1976 to 1996, State Repression and the Domestic Democratic Peace seeks to shed light on these questions. Specifically, it finds that electoral participation and competition generally reduces personal integrity violations like torture and mass killing; other aspects of democracy do not wield consistent influences. This negative influence can be overwhelmed by conflict, however, and thus there are important qualifications for...

How do social movements die? Some explanations highlight internal factors like factionalization, whereas others stress external factors like repression. Christian Davenport offers an alternative explanation where both factors interact. Drawing on organizational, as well as individual-level, explanations, Davenport argues that social movement death is the outgrowth of a coevolutionary dynamic whereby challengers, influenced by their understanding of what states will do to oppose them, attempt to recruit, motivate, calm, and prepare constituents while governments attempt to hinder all of these...

The idea of studying peace - over studying war, genocide and political violence and then inferring about peace - has gained traction recently, but how should it be studied? The Peace Continuum reviews the literature and offers three alternative ways in which peace could be conceptualized and studied.