Capturing the Flag: The Struggle for National Identity in Nonviolent Revolutions

One goal of nonviolent resistance movements is to legitimize themselves in opposition to governments by undermining the latter’s leadership. We argue nonviolent groups that can ‘own’ the national identity are more likely to succeed, as they can assert the legitimacy of their vision for the state, and persuade other sectors of society to support their cause. Our argument is supported by the Arab Spring uprisings, where those resistance movements that were able to identify and claim ownership over a homogeneous national identity were more successful in pressing their claims. We view national identity as a component of symbolic power in both successful and unsuccessful nonviolent revolutions. We supplement our argument via a comparison of the Arab Spring uprisings featuring Egypt, Bahrain, and Libya, with nonviolent movements of the past: the ‘early’ cases (Northern Ireland, Iran, and the Philippines) and the color revolutions (Serbia, Georgia, and the Ukraine). We posit that the role of national identity, while not a determinant of success, can play an important role in the struggle for legitimacy, which may help determine the prospects of success for these movements

Culture and Procedural Justice in Transitioning Societies

In any transitional justice mechanism there are tradeoffs between the search for retributive justice and the practical limitations on what can be accomplished. To date, this tension has been discussed in reference to internationally established norms of justice, which the authors argue are limited in the extent to which they can explain why certain mechanisms—such as the South African Truth and Reconciliation Commission or Rwanda’s gacaca courts—have been considered successful. We argue that mechanisms that have a high overlap between local culture and elements of procedural justice are perceived as more fair and just, even to those who may not benefit—or indeed may be burdened—by their operation

Will Belgium Dissolve? A Comparative Examination of State Dissolution in Europe

The parliamentary deadlock surrounding the 2007 Belgian election, fake news reports of dissolution and Time magazine’s discussion of a Czechoslovak style divorce, showcase how Belgium may be inching towards breakup. We argue that the case of Belgium will be more likely to follow that of dissolution, the consensual breakup of the center; rather than go through a divisive secession, the removal of a territory on the periphery. This differentiates the Belgian case from other contemporary peaceful separatist movements like Quebec, Catalonia and others which may make it more susceptible to breakup. Moreover, we argue that based on Hancock (1998), sufficient political and economic changes could exacerbate tensions such that dissolution becomes increasingly inevitable in the future. We show how the case of Belgium will likely be similar to that of Czechoslovakia in 1993 as well as providing lessons from the breakups of personal unions such as Norway-Sweden in 1905 and Serbia-Montenegro in 2006. In sum, we argue that Belgium will not easily dissolve and that while dissolution is quite possible, it is not yet probable. This study, therefore, presents some interesting theoretical lessons for dissolution, how it occurs and how mature democracies face very real challenges with state breakup

Who is to blame? The relationship between ingroup identification and relative deprivation is moderated by ingroup attributions

Contradictory evidence can be found in the literature about whether ingroup identification and perceived relative deprivation are positively or negatively related. Indeed, theoretical arguments can be made for both effects. It was proposed that the contradictory findings can be explained by considering a hitherto unstudied moderator: The extent to which deprivation is attributed to the ingroup. It was hypothesised that identification would only have a negative impact on deprivation, and that deprivation would only have a negative impact on identification, if ingroup attributions are high. To test this, attributions to the ingroup were experimentally manipulated among British student participants (N = 189) who were asked about their perceived deprivation vis-à-vis German students, yield ing support for the hypotheses

Narratives of Identity in Social Movements, Conflicts and Change

https://kent-islandora.s3.us-east-2.amazonaws.com/facultybooks/101/thumbnail.jpgThis volume of Research in Social Movements, Conflicts and Change is divided into two parts. Part I presents a series of cases that tie together narratives of being, knowing and contestation surrounding the claiming of identity for the self or the categorization of the other. It does this by exploring narratives to claim identities and assert agency; showing us the dialectic between dominant forces and those who would challenge existing narratives about place, identity or space. Part II continues RSMCC’s tradition of cutting edge research in social movement formation, conflict and change. These chapters focus on a wide range of social organizations from immigrant movements, to the occupy struggle, to the narratives around the framing and counter-framing of the radical environmental movement. The volume concludes with two chapters focusing on more recent developments in data gathering and analysis to examine changes in how researchers collect and analyze data. Each of the nine chapters engages with notions of identity, whether in the examination of the subject or in the reference to the researcher him or herself.</p

Chinese children's experiences of biliteracy learning in Scotland

This thesis explores the experiences of Chinese children acquiring literacy in both Chinese and English in Scotland. A three-dimensional research design is adopted in order to take into account the influential domains where children are exposed to literacy learning. First, it investigates the attitudes and approaches to literacy learning in fourteen Chinese homes, with evidence gathered from semi-structured interviews with parents. Second, observations of and conversations with children and Chinese teachers in a Chinese complementary school in the central belt of Scotland provide insights into the approaches to teaching and learning Chinese literacy. Third, miscue analysis of reading and thinking aloud protocols are conducted in mainstream schools with six Chinese boys, aged eight to nine years, in order to analyse in depth the reading strategies deployed by children in their attempts to gain meaning from both Chinese and English texts. The findings reveal that Chinese parents provide a rich learning environment where children consolidate and in some cases extend the literacy learning experiences gained in the complementary Chinese school. What also emerges from the research is that while the children in the study have a great deal of metalinguistic and metacognitive knowledge gained from learning diverse writing systems, this knowledge is not recognised within policy or practice in mainstream schools. Finally, Hornberger’s Continua of Biliteracy are used as a model both in order to analyse the mosaic of qualitative data generated during the research process and to provide a framework for a discussion of educational policy and practice in multilingual Scotland.EThOS - Electronic Theses Online ServiceGBUnited Kingdo

Peace May Sell: Promotion, Implementation and Popular Support for Peace Agreements

This paper uses Kahneman & Tversky\u27s prospect theory to analyze how leaders and opponents attempt to frame and \u27sell\u27 peace agreements to their constituents using the Good Friday and Oslo Agreements as case studies

Selling the Iran Nuclear Agreement: Prospect Theory and the Campaign to Frame the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action

This paper examines the Obama administration\u27s arguments for ratifying the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) to limit Iran\u27s nuclear capabilities and whether these claims encouraged U.S. senators to approve the agreement. The analysis relies on Kahneman and Tversky\u27s (1979) prospect theory in which more risk is taken to avoid certain loss and improve conditions when options are framed in terms of losses rather than gains. We argue that the Obama administration was able to persuade Democratic senators to support the JCPOA by arguing the agreement had the potential to curb the development of nuclear weapons by the Iranian regime. But more importantly, the administration was able to frame the status quo as a certain loss, and thus, the risk associated with the JCPOA was acceptable in comparison to not adopting the agreement. Our analysis of the Obama administration\u27s lobbying efforts and the Democratic senators\u27 statements in support of the agreement demonstrate the value of applying prospect theory to understanding decision making with respect to American foreign policy formulation

The power of voice : storytelling as peacebuilding in post-troubles Northern Ireland

The Northern Ireland peace process has been long and tumultuous, yet 20 years after the Good Friday Agreement, peace has not become a reality for many Northern Irish citizens. For those who have been excluded from the state and the institution-led peace process, grassroots methods of peacebuilding are needed to create an everyday peace that is owned by and includes all Northern Irish citizens. A narrative approach to peacebuilding is one that addresses many of the challenges to everyday peace following the “Troubles.” By exploring the use and impact of storytelling and narrative on everyday experiences, the narrative approach proves to be a viable tool for elevating and giving ownership of the peace process to marginalized members of Northern Irish society