The Algerian military’s response to the 2019–2020 Hirak protests was relatively peaceful. In contrast to its violent repression of protests in 1988, and subsequent coup and civil war in the 1990s, ...the military showed considerable restraint toward the Hirak. Leveraging a survey of 2,235 self-reported military personnel, I show that the military’s restraint emanated from protesters’ use of nonviolence and fraternization, as well as from a recognition that the military’s more repressive approach in the 1990s was a mistake. At the same time, a priming experiment suggests that the military’s willingness to repress increases when protesters threaten the military’s corporate interests, and when Russia, Algeria’s primary arms supplier, reiterates its support for the regime. Overall, the results show how protester tactics, international reactions, and political learning can condition the military’s repression or restraint during times of unrest.
Objective
Although violent extremism is often attributed to clinical (dysfunctional) dispositions, it is also possible that violent Jihadists might be clinically “normal” but bear certain personality ...signatures. This alternative view has yet to be tested.
Method
In six studies, employing hard‐to‐reach Muslim samples, including one study of former Mujahideen, we investigated the relationship between basic personality traits and violent extremism. We further used a known group paradigm to validate the personality signatures of violent extremism, comparing a sample of former Mujahideen with another sample from Afghanistan.
Results
These studies and an internal meta‐analysis revealed that Lower Openness to Experience, lower Emotionality, and lower Altruism were associated with more violent intentions to support Muslims. Higher Altruism was associated with higher levels of nonviolent intention to support Muslims. Supporting the validity of the nonviolent intention measure, similar associations were found in Study 3 with overt behavioral support of Muslims (donations). More important, compared to the nonMujahideen, the Mujahideen sample scored lower on average on, for instance, Openness, indicating that these results go beyond self‐reported, findings.
Conclusion
We demonstrated that personality predicts violent and nonviolent defense of Muslims among four general populations of Muslims living in the West and in Asia (including the Middle East), and a sample of Mujahideen in Afghanistan.
The aims of this study were to identify latent classes of adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) in a large sample of college students (N = 8997), investigate the relations between ACEs classes and ...life functioning, and compare results using latent class analysis to analyses using cumulative risk scores. Nine types of ACEs were assessed (three types of child abuse and six types of household dysfunction). Outcomes were self-report measures of mental health, physical health, alcohol consequences, and academic performance. Latent class analysis (LCA) results indicated that four classes fit the data best across random halves of the sample and were labeled High ACEs, Moderate Risk of Non-Violent Household Dysfunction, Emotional and Physical Child Abuse, and Low ACEs. Comparing across latent classes, the largest differences in outcomes were between the High ACEs and Low ACEs classes. There were no differences in outcomes between the Moderate Risk of Non-Violent Household Dysfunction and Emotional and Physical Child Abuse classes. The largest between-class differences were found for mental health and the smallest differences were found for academic performance. Comparing results using LCA latent classes and cumulative ACEs scores, the differences between the High and Low ACEs latent classes were similar to the differences between those with zero ACEs and those with 5 or more ACEs. Both approaches also accounted for roughly equivalent amounts of variance in all outcomes. Thus, latent class and cumulative risk analyses provided similar results with regard to predicting outcomes of interest among college students.
Public underestimation of support for climate change policy is striking. Social science research tells us this is bad news, but also tells us what to do about it. Climate change communication must ...hammer home the overwhelming support for action.A new study finds that Americans underestimate how many are concerned about climate change as well as support for major climate policies by nearly half, with climate policy supporters significantly outnumbering non-supporters.
In recent years, scholars have argued that protests that employ nonviolent tactics attract greater support and are therefore more likely to succeed than those that use violence. We argue that how ...protest tactics are perceived is not a purely objective determination, but can be influenced in part by observer characteristics - in particular, by partisan identity. We conducted a survey experiment on two independent samples through the MTurk platform, randomly assigning protester group identity and tactics. Results show that when controlling for assigned tactics, self-identified Republicans but not Democrats perceive higher levels of violence when a disliked group is protesting. The effect is strongest in regard to tactics that are nominally the least disruptive. The findings have implications for theories of nonviolent protest, the legitimacy of repression, and the prospects for marginal groups to influence policy in polarized societies.
With inspiration from the non-violence resistance movements of Mahatma Gandhi, Nelson Mandela and Martin Luther King Jr., Crépon reveals how philosophy and literature, using courage and a new ...language, can overcome the many forms of hatred and violence present in our lives today.
Most programmes developed to reduce aggressive attitudes among teenagers are based on cultivating nonviolence, a construct that has been related to compassion and, more indirectly, mindfulness. This ...study aims at testing the efficacy of 'Unlearning', a mindfulness and compassion-based programme, for reducing aggressive attitudes in adolescents.
A sample of 164 students from three high schools in Zaragoza (Spain) participated in the study. They were randomly assigned to (1) 'Unlearning', or (2) relaxation programme. Three assessment points were established: baseline, post-treatment and a 4-month follow-up. The outcome variables were the subscales of the 'Attitudes Toward Social Aggression Scale'. Mindfulness and compassion were assessed as secondary outcomes.
'Unlearning' did not produce changes in the primary outcomes, but significant effects were observed post-treatment in self-compassion; and in the follow-up, in self-compassion and mindfulness. The control group did not experience any change post-treatment, but a significant effect in mindfulness was observed in the follow-up. The intergroup analyses indicated that 'Unlearning' improved self-compassion, both post-treatment (
= -2.48,
= 0.014) and after 4-months (
= -2.03,
= 0.044), although these results were not statistically significant after correcting for multiple comparisons.
'Unlearning' did not produce significant reductions in aggressive attitudes compared to the control group. The low baseline levels may have hindered the efficacy of the interventions. 'Unlearning' showed potential to improve self-compassion, which is related to nonviolence, and this may have positive implications for the adolescents. Future interventions should include teachers and families to enhance the effectiveness of the programmes.
What reasons stand in favor of (or against) violent resistance to oppression? I distinguish two kinds of normative reasons that bear relevantly in such a practical deliberation. I argue that in ...addition to reasons of impartial morality, victims’ personal projects and relationships may also provide reasons for (or against) violent resistance. Moreover, there is no guarantee that conflicts will not occur between such reasons. Thus, some acts of violent resistance may arise from situations of radical choice in which impartial moral reasons and personal reasons pull the agent in opposite directions. Regardless of what we ultimately think agents facing such decisions ought to do, all things considered, recognizing such conflicts is crucial for understanding the circumstances that give rise to violence and for better sympathizing with victims who are pushed to such extreme modes of resistance.
CHAPTER 4 Levine, Glenn S.
The Modern language journal (Boulder, Colo.),
01/2020, Letnik:
104, Številka:
S1
Journal Article
Recenzirano
Chapter 4 of Glenn S. Levine's monograph A Human Ecological Language Pedagogy focuses on how language teaching and learning can contribute to the alleviation of suffering in the world and the ...promotion of nonviolence.
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