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

新生的叛乱组织通常从利用激进分子协会的成员网络中获益，招募有政治意识和忠诚的个人，在相对较短的时间内壮大他们的队伍。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。这个项目试图解释叛乱运动是如何破坏活动人士对其组织的承诺的，以及为什么某些民间组织比其他民间组织更容易受到叛乱分子招募的影响。它还追溯了那些离开和平形式的激进主义而从事暴力叛乱的激进分子如何利用与其他激进分子及其受益者的个人和职业关系，将更多的个人带入叛乱阵营，从而将公民激进主义的资源转化为暴力叛乱的资源。在这样做的过程中，本项目将为希望保护和促进公民社会发展的活动家和政策制定者提供指导，这些社会存在严重分裂，面临或已经经历了内部暴力冲突的风险。技术摘要本研究基于对尼泊尔内战期间（1996-2006年）毛派在各民族组织中招募成员的九个月深入实地调查，将评估影响活动人士对其组织承诺的若干因素，以及各组织相对于叛军招募工作的脆弱性。该项目主要依靠对活动人士和受益者以及前叛乱分子的半结构化访谈和焦点小组证词，研究活动组织活动的范围和类型、结构以及活动的物质回报等因素如何影响活动人士对其组织的承诺。它还将评估叛乱分子如何选择组织和活动分子作为招募目标，以及他们如何破坏现有的承诺。最后，本研究将追踪最初叛逃到反叛组织的活动分子是如何通过组织网络引发叛逃的级联反应的，因为其他活动分子和与早期叛逃者有联系的受益者也会效仿。

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.