Violent or non-violent action? Wartime civilian resistance in Colombia and Mozambique

Why do some communities resist armed groups non-violently while others take up arms to do so? Recent research has advanced our knowledge of the causes and consequences of wartime civilian resistance. Yet, the factors explaining the emergence and outcomes of civilian resistance do not account for how people resist. Despite its important consequences for the politics and geography of war, the issue of why civilians engage in violent or non-violent forms of resistance remains poorly understood. We rely on extensive original fieldwork to examine within-case and cross-case variation in violent and non-violent resistance campaigns during the Mozambican and Colombian civil wars. We argue that forms of resistance are linked to prior experiences of collective action, normative commitments, and the role of local political entrepreneurs. Previous experiences make repertoires of resistance “empirically” available, while prevailing local social and cultural norms make them “normatively” available. Political entrepreneurs activate and adapt what is empirically and normatively available to mobilize support for some forms of action and against others. Our analysis advances emerging research on wartime civilian agency and has significant implications for theories of armed conflict, civil resistance, and contentious politics more broadly.NWOInstitutions, Decisions and Collective Behaviou

The human costs of the war on drugs: attitudes towards militarization of security in Mexico

Institutions, Decisions and Collective Behaviou

Community Responses to a Changing Security Landscape at the Colombia–Venezuela Border: The Case of La Guajira

The Colombian–Venezuelan borderlands are facing a ‘double crisis’: at the same time as armed groups reconfigure following the demobilization of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC), Colombia is concurrently receiving millions of refugees, migrants, and Colombian returnees from neighbouring Venezuela. While much international coverage of the crisis has focused on Cúcuta, the major border crossing in the department of Norte de Santander, the crossing via the Guajira Peninsula is the second most frequented official land crossing into Colombia. In 2020, La Guajira was home to more than 166,000 refugees and migrants, the third highest concentration in the country. This happened at the same time as new and old armed groups were using violent measures to control strategic territory in the region. This practice note takes stock of the risks that affect security conditions as perceived and experienced by communities in La Guajira, and outlines the self-protection strategies that some communities employ to respond to the changing security conditions. It demonstrates the need for enhancing efforts for integration (for example, documentation) and response mechanisms that are shared between Colombia and other countries in the region in order to mitigate risks for Venezuelans in border regions of Colombia. The information reported here comes from a targeted civil society workshop held in Riohacha—the capital city of La Guajira—and a field visit made in April 2019 under the research programme ‘From Conflict Actors to Architects of Peace—CONPEACE’.Institutions, Decisions and Collective Behaviou

Mobilizing to Counter Post-agreement Security Challenges: The Case of the “Humanitarian Accord Now” in Chocó

Institutions, Decisions and Collective Behaviou

Civilian protective agency in violent settings: a comparative perspective

Institutions, Decisions and Collective Behaviou