Doctoral Dissertation Research in Political Science: Participation in Loyalist Protest Activities in Northern Ireland

政治学博士论文研究：参与北爱尔兰保皇派抗议活动

• 批准号: 1263772
• 负责人: Jack Snyder
• 金额: $ 2.24万
• 依托单位: Columbia University
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2013
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2013-04-01 至 2014-03-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=1263772&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Doctoral; Dissertation; Research; Political; Science

Objectives: Cultural protest actions are used by political actors around the world to achieve political objectives, but existing political science theories cannot fully explain their dynamics. In particular, the current literature does not account for why individuals participate in actions that have significant political consequences but that do not offer material inducements for participants or social punishments for non-participants. The aim of this dissertation is understand who chooses to participate in politically-relevant protest actions and why.Theory: To address the inadequate treatment of the characteristics of cultural protest actions in the political science literature, this project draws on two key findings from the literature. First, cultural actions are not "merely symbolic," but provide meaningful benefits to participants; and second, they carry multiple and ambiguous meanings. Briefly, the argument is that individuals choose to participate in cultural actions that provide them with meaningful and enjoyable benefits that are intrinsic to the act of participation. This contrasts with prevailing theories of collective action and collective identity that focus on the beneficial outcomes for participants, and ignore the content of identities. Methods: This project uses original quantitative and qualitative data collected during extensive fieldwork in Northern Ireland, where traditional protest actions by Protestants carry enormous political weight. In fact, these controversial actions are one of the greatest sources of sectarian tension and violence today. The quantitative data will come from a two-wave survey of randomly selected protest participants and non-participants, where each respondent will be interviewed before and after the largest protests of 2013. The qualitative data will come from in-depth interviews and careful observation of protests. These data collection efforts build upon research conducted over three months of recent fieldwork. Intellectual Merit: The proposed research synthesizes previously disparate strands of research in sociology and political science to advance a novel theory about the relationship between political collective action and collective identity. Students of politics tend to study identities as a static collection of individuals or a set of beliefs, but collective identities are a richer phenomenon and can affect politics through other channels. This dissertation will identify how and why one of these other aspects of collective identity--cultural protest actions--matter politically. The focus on such actions will also illuminate understudied dynamics of political collective action, such as roles of emotional processes, symbols, and collective identities in motivating participation. Broader Impact: Anticipated research findings have the potential to improve the management of divisive political conflicts. Evidence of cultural protest actions being used to polarize groups can be found in divided societies throughout the world, but the creation of effective policy solutions is hindered by a lack of understanding about their dynamics. The findings of this research will be distributed to members of civil society organizations in Northern Ireland, many of whom have already expressed enthusiasm and interest in the project. The hope is that providing community leaders and activists with comprehensive and rigorous results will help them develop strategies that minimize the harmful effects of protest while still allowing groups the right to cultural expression that is inherent in, and necessary for, a robust democratic society.

目的：文化抗议行动被世界各地的政治行动者用来实现政治目标，但现有的政治学理论无法完全解释其动力。特别是，目前的文献没有解释为什么个人参与的行动，有重大的政治后果，但不提供物质奖励的参与者或非参与者的社会惩罚。本论文的目的是了解谁选择参与政治相关的抗议行动，为什么。理论：为了解决在政治学文献的文化抗议行动的特点治疗不足，这个项目借鉴了两个关键的研究结果，从文献。首先，文化行动“不仅仅是象征性的”，而是为参与者提供有意义的利益;其次，它们具有多重和模糊的含义。简而言之，这个论点是，个人选择参与文化活动，为他们提供有意义的和愉快的利益，是内在的参与行为。这与当前流行的集体行动和集体认同理论形成鲜明对比，后者注重参与者的有益结果，而忽视了认同的内容。研究方法：该项目使用了在北方爱尔兰广泛的实地调查中收集的原始定量和定性数据，新教徒的传统抗议行动具有巨大的政治影响力。事实上，这些有争议的行动是当今宗派紧张局势和暴力的最大根源之一。定量数据将来自随机选择的抗议参与者和非参与者的两波调查，每个受访者将在2013年最大的抗议活动之前和之后接受采访。定性数据将来自深入访谈和对抗议活动的仔细观察。这些数据收集工作建立在最近三个多月实地调查的基础上。智力优势：拟议的研究综合了社会学和政治学中以前不同的研究领域，提出了一个关于政治集体行动和集体认同之间关系的新理论。政治学的学生倾向于将身份作为一组静态的个人或一组信仰来研究，但集体身份是一种更丰富的现象，可以通过其他渠道影响政治。本论文将确定如何以及为什么这些集体身份的其他方面之一-文化抗议行动-政治问题。对这些行动的关注也将阐明政治集体行动的未充分研究的动态，如情感过程，符号和集体身份在激励参与中的作用。更广泛的影响：预期的研究结果有可能改善对分裂性政治冲突的管理。在世界各地分裂的社会中，都可以找到文化抗议行动被用来压制群体的证据，但由于缺乏对这些行动的了解，制定有效的政策解决方案受到了阻碍。这项研究的结果将分发给北方爱尔兰的民间社会组织成员，其中许多人已经对该项目表示了热情和兴趣。我们希望，向社区领导人和活动家提供全面和严格的结果将有助于他们制定战略，最大限度地减少抗议的有害影响，同时仍然允许群体享有文化表达的权利，这是一个强大的民主社会所固有的，也是必要的。