Doctoral Dissertation Research: Civic Participation and Insurgent Mobilization in Deeply-Divided Societies

新生的叛乱组织经常利用活动家协会的成员网络，招募具有政治意识和坚定信念的个人，在相对较短的时间内扩大其队伍。然而，激进主义和叛乱动员之间的关系并没有得到很好的理解。该项目试图解释叛乱运动如何破坏活动分子对其组织的承诺，以及为什么某些民间组织比其他组织更容易受到叛乱分子招募活动的影响。它还追溯了那些离开和平形式的激进主义而进行暴力叛乱的活动家如何利用与其他活动家及其受益人的个人和职业关系，将更多的人带入叛乱分子的圈子，从而将公民行动主义的资源转化为暴力叛乱的资源。在此过程中，该项目将为希望在面临或已经经历内部暴力冲突的严重分裂社会中保护和促进民间社会发展的活动家和决策者提供指导。技术摘要基于为期九个月的深入实地考察，比较尼泊尔内战期间毛派在各民族组织中的招募工作。（1996-2006年），这项研究将评估影响活动分子对其组织的承诺的一些因素，从而评估每个组织相对容易受到反叛分子招募努力的影响。该项目主要依靠半结构化访谈和焦点小组对活动家和受益人以及前叛乱分子的证词，将研究活动家组织活动的范围和类型、结构以及活动的物质奖励等因素如何影响活动家对其组织的承诺。它还将评估叛乱分子如何选择组织和活动家作为招募目标，以及他们如何破坏现有的承诺。最后，这项研究将追踪最初的激进分子叛逃到反叛组织可能引发了级联的叛逃通过组织网络作为其他活动家和受益人分享与早期叛逃者效仿。

General SummaryNascent insurgent organizations have routinely benefitted from tapping into the membership networks of activist associations, recruiting politically aware and committed individuals to swell their ranks in relatively short order. Yet the relationship between activism and insurgent mobilization is not well understood. This project seeks to explain how insurgent movements work to undermine activists' commitment to their organizations, and why certain civic organizations are more vulnerable to rebel recruitment drives than are others. It also traces how activists who do leave peaceful forms of activism for violent rebellion might leverage personal and professional relationships with other activists and their beneficiaries to bring greater numbers of individuals into the insurgent fold, thereby transforming the resources of civic activism into the resources for violent rebellion. In so doing, this project will provide guidance to activists and policymakers wishing to protect and promote the development of civil society in deeply-divided societies at risk of, or already experiencing, violent internal conflict.Technical SummaryBased on nine months of in-depth fieldwork comparing Maoist recruitment efforts amongst ethnic organizations during Nepal's civil war (1996-2006), this research will assess a number of factors that impact activists' commitment to their organizations, and thus each organization's relative vulnerability to rebel recruitment efforts. Relying primarily on semi-structured interview and focus group testimonies with activists and beneficiaries, as well as with former insurgents, the project will examine how factors such as the scope and type of an activist organization's activities, its structure, and the material rewards of activism impacted activists' commitment to their organizations. It will also assess how insurgents chose organizations and activists to target for recruitment, and how they worked to undermine existing commitment. Finally, this research will trace how initial activist defections to the rebel group may have triggered cascades of defection through organizational networks as other activists and beneficiaries sharing ties with early defectors followed suit.