Doctoral Dissertation Research in Political Science: Explaining Interethnic Aggression In Israel

这个项目将产生初步的答案，在种族政治研究中最紧迫的问题之一：什么是身体种族间的侵略的个人决定因素？ 它试图解释为什么一个人会做出身体攻击的反应，而另一个人在面对双方都认为是来自种族外群体成员的威胁时却不会。 这个问题的答案的重要性怎么强调都不过分：我试图解释的那种低水平的身体种族间侵略（即骚乱、小团体和个人层面的种族间侵略）困扰着世界上越来越多的国家。 这种类型的侵略也许在以色列最为普遍，这是本项目的重点。 为了改善解决冲突的努力和促进更和平的多民族社区，我们必须了解是什么驱使个人决定参与身体种族间的侵略。该项目将分析以色列两个最大的种族群体之间的互动：犹太裔以色列人和阿拉伯裔以色列人（仅限于那些18岁及以上的国家公民）。 在收集了2000-2008年期间这些族裔群体成员之间攻击事件的数量和类型的定性和定量数据后，研究人员将邀请来自以色列各地的600名大学适龄青年分层抽样参加调查和实验。 这项调查将收集个人层面的数据，这些数据将用于评估试图解释种族间攻击的各种假设。 在接受调查四周后，这些人将被邀请到一个研究实验室参加实验，以安全地收集种族间攻击数据。 由此产生的侵略数据将与调查结果和定性数据一起进行分析，以得出最终结论。在以色列，大多数组织试图防止种族间的侵略休息的一些变化奥尔波特？他的“接触假说”，认为个人不会攻击那些与他们有相当大的接触。 因此，各种类型的“种族接触”接触小组遍布全国。 然而，许多活动家和学者目前怀疑这些团体减轻侵略。 这个项目超越了“接触”，以确定激励种族间侵略的因素，希望对这些动机的更全面的理解将为组织提供新的方向，因为他们制定政策和计划，以改善或取代这些群体。 一旦该项目在以色列完成，它将在其他国家和背景下运行。

This project will generate preliminary answers to one of the most pressing questions in the study of ethnic politics: What are the individual determinants of physical interethnic aggression? It seeks to explain why one individual reacts with physical aggression while another does not when faced with what both perceive to be a threat from a member of the ethnic outgroup. The import of answers to this question cannot be overstated: Low-level physical interethnic aggression of the type I seek to explain (i.e. riots, small-group, and individual-level interethnic aggression), plagues an ever-increasing number of countries worldwide. This type of aggression is perhaps nowhere more present than in Israel, the focus of this project. To improve conflict resolution efforts and to promote more peaceful multi-ethnic communities, we must understand what drives the individual decision to engage in physical interethnic aggression.The project will analyze the interactions between Israel's two largest ethnic groups: Jewish-Israelis and Arab-Israelis (restricted to those 18-yrs. and older who have citizenship within the state). After gathering both qualitative and quantitative data on the number and type of aggressive incidents between members of these ethnic groups during the years 2000-2008, the researcher will invite a stratified sample of 600 university-aged young adults from around Israel to participate in a survey and an experiment. The survey will gather individual-level data that will be used to evaluate various hypotheses that seek to explain interethnic aggression. Four weeks after taking the survey, these same individuals will be invited to a research lab to participate in the experiment to safely gather interethnic aggression data. The resulting aggression data will be analyzed alongside the survey results and qualitative data to reach final conclusions.Within Israel, most organizational attempts at preventing interethnic aggression rest on some variation of Allport?s "contact hypothesis," the idea that individuals will not aggress against those with whom they have considerable contact. As such, "ethnic encounter" contact groups of various types dot the country. However, many activists and scholars currently doubt that these groups mitigate aggression. This project looks beyond "contact" to identify factors that motivate interethnic aggression in the hope that a more complete understanding of these motivations will provide organizations with new direction as they craft policies and programs to improve or replace these groups. Once the project is completed in Israel, it will be run in other countries and contexts as well.