Skip to main content

Precluding Nonviolence, Propelling Violence: The Effect of Internal Fragmentation on Movement Protest

Studies in Comparative International Development volume 47, pages 23–46 (2012)Cite this article

Abstract

Scholars often overlook that an adequate explanation of why a movement uses violent means of protest requires an account of why it does not instead use nonviolent means. This essay argues that while paths to violence are multiple, there is one prevailing path to nonviolent protest—that which opens when a movement is politically cohesive. Cohesion approximates a necessary condition for nonviolent protest because such protest requires coordination and collective restraint. Conversely, fragmentation generates incentives and opportunities that increase the likelihood that protest will become violent. This argument, specified in terms of composite mechanisms and demonstrated by overtime variation in the Palestinian case, critiques the assumption that movements can be treated as unitary actors. It also shifts attention from movements’ motivations to their organizational configurations.

This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution.

Access options

Buy single article

Instant access to the full article PDF.

USD 39.95

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Fig. 1

References

  • Abdel Jawad S. The Intifada's military lessons. Palestine Report. 2000.

  • Abdel Majeed W. Al-shamuliya al-ijtimaiya lil-intifada: qira’a awaliya [The social inclusivity of the Intifada: a first reading]. Shu’un Filistiniya. 1988;193:3–21.

    Google Scholar 

  • Abu Toameh K. New Fatah groups controlled by PLO dissident in Lebanon. Jerusalem Post: 2002.

  • Abu Toameh K. Talking at Cross Purposes. Jerusalem Post: 2003.

  • Abu-Amr Z. Islamic fundamentalism in the West Bank and Gaza: Muslim Brotherhood and Islamic jihad. Bloomington: Indiana University Press; 1994.

    Google Scholar 

  • Al-Haq. Punishing a Nation: human rights violations during the Palestinian uprising, December 1987–December 1988. Boston: South End Press; 1990.

  • Allen L. There are many reasons why: suicide bombers and martyrs in Palestine. Middle East Report. 2002;223:34–7.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Al-Madhoun RK. Al-intifada al-filastiniya: al-haykal al-tanthimi wa-asalib al-amal [The Palestinian uprising: structure and activities]. Acre: Dar al-Aswar; 1989.

    Google Scholar 

  • Al-Masri H. Filastin amaam muftaraq turuq [Palestine at a crossroads]. Majallat al-Dirasat al-Fiastiniyah. 2002;51:46–52.

  • Amnesty International. Broken lives: a year of Intifada. London: AI. 2001.

  • Andoni G. A comparative study of Intifada 1987 and Intifada 2000. In: Carey R, editor. The new Intifada: resisting Israel’s apartheid. London: Verso Books; 2001. p. 209–18.

    Google Scholar 

  • Ashrawi H. This Side of Peace. New York: Touchstone; 1995.

    Google Scholar 

  • B’Tselem. Excessive Force: human rights violations during IDF Actions in Area A Jerusalem; 2001.

  • Bennet J. Isolated and Angry, Gaza Battles Itself, Too. New York Times. July 16, 2004.

  • Bishara A. Ma ba’ad al-ijtiyah: fi qadaya al-istratijiyah al-wataniyah al-filastiniyah [In the wake of the Israeli invasion: issues of Palestinian national strategy]. Ramallah, West Bank: MUWATIN; 2002.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bloom M. Palestinian suicide bombing: popular support, market share, and outbidding. Poli Sci Q. 2004;119:61–88.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Brom S. The withdrawal from Southern Lebanon: one year later. Assessment August: Strategic; 2001.

    Google Scholar 

  • Brooks D. The culture of martyrdom. The Atlantic June 2002.

  • Brubaker R, Laitin D. Ethnic and nationalist violence. Ann Rev Sociol. 1998;24:423–52.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Brynen R. The neopatrimonial dimension of Palestinian politics. J Pal Stud. 1995;25:23–36.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bucaille L. Growing up Palestinian: Israeli occupation and the Intifada generation, trans. Princeton: Princeton University Press; 2004.

    Google Scholar 

  • Center for Palestine Research and Studies, Public Opinion Polls, September 1993.

  • Cox GW, Shepsle KA. Majority cycling and agenda manipulation: Richard McKelvey’s contributions and legacy. In: Aldrich J, Alt JE, Lupia A, editors. A positive change in political science: the legacy of Richard McKelvey’s most influential writings. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press; 2007.

    Google Scholar 

  • Crenshaw M. Theories of terrorism: instrumental and organizational approaches. In: Rapoport DC, editor. Inside terrorist organizations. New York: Columbia University Press; 1988. p. 13–31.

    Google Scholar 

  • Dajani SR. The Intifada. Amman: University of Jordan Center for Hebraic Studies; 1990.

    Google Scholar 

  • Davenport C. Introduction. Repression and Mobilization: Insights from Political Science and Sociology. In Davenport C, Johnston H, Mueller C, editors. Repression and Mobilization. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press; 2005; vii–xli.

  • DeNardo J. Power in numbers: the political strategy of protest and rebellion. Princeton: Princeton University Press; 1985.

    Google Scholar 

  • Gagnon VP. Ethnic nationalism and international conflict: the case of Serbia. Intl Security: Winter 1994/1995;19:130–66.

    Google Scholar 

  • Gamson WA. Strategy of social protest. Homewood, IL: Dorsey; 1975.

  • Gardner JW. On leadership. New York: Free Press; 1993.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hage G. ‘Comes a time we are all enthusiasm:’ understanding Palestinian suicide bombers in times of exighophobia. Public Culture. 2003;15:65–89.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hammami R. NGOs: the professionalisation of politics. Race and class. 1995;37:51–64.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hardin R. One for all: the logic of group conflict. Princeton: Princeton University Press; 1995.

    Google Scholar 

  • Heacock R. From the Mediterranean to the Gulag and back again: the Palestinian Intifada and the Gulf War. Arab Stud Q. 1991;13:65–82.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hewitt JJ, Wilkenfeld J, Gurr TR. Peace and conflict 2010. College Park: Center for International Development and Conflict Management; 2010.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hilal J. Al-nizam al-siyasi al-filastini ba’ad Oslo: dirasah tahliliyah naqdiyah [The Palestinian political order after Oslo: a critical analytical study]. Ramallah: MUWATIN; 1998.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hilal J. Al-harakah al-wataniyah al-filitstiniyah amam su’al sa’ab. [The Palestinian national movement confronts difficult questions], Majallat al-dirasat al-fiastiniyah 2003;56:15–26.

  • Hiltermann J. Behind the Intifada: labor and women’s movements in the Occupied Territories. Princeton: Princeton University Press; 1991.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hiltermann J. The Enemy inside the Intifada. Nation, September 10, 1990;229–234.

  • Horowitz DL. Ethnic groups in conflict. Berkeley: University of California Press; 2000.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hroub K. Hamas: political thought and practice. Washington, DC: Institute of Palestine Studies; 2000.

    Google Scholar 

  • Human Rights Watch. Erased in a moment: suicide bombing attacks against Israeli civilians. New York; 2002.

  • Hunter FR. The Palestinian uprising: a war by other means. London: I.B. Tauris; 1991.

    Google Scholar 

  • Huntington SP. Political order in changing societies. New Haven and London: Yale University Press; 1968.

    Google Scholar 

  • International Crisis Group. Who governs the West Bank? Palestinian administration under Israeli occupation. Middle East Report 2004:32.

  • International Crisis Group. Iraq’s Muqtada al-Sadr: spoiler or stabiliser? Middle East Report: 2006:55.

  • Israel Defense Forces Spokesman’s Unit. Incidents in Judea, Samaria and the Gaza District since the beginning of the uprising. Jerusalem; December, 1992.

  • Jamal A. Barriers to democracy: the other side of social capital in Palestine and the Arab world. Princeton: Princeton University Press; 2007.

    Google Scholar 

  • Jarbawi A. Al-intifadah wa-al-qiyadat al-siyasiyah fi al-diffah al-harbiyah wa-qita’a gazzah: bahth fi al-nukbah al-siyasiyah [The Intifada and Political Leadership in the West Bank and Gaza Strip: A study in political elites]. Beirut: Dar al-Taliyah; 1989.

    Google Scholar 

  • Jarbawi A. Li-kay natathatta al-azmah: nahwa khuttah istratijiyah jadidah lil-amal al-Filastini [Overcoming the crisis: towards a new Palestinian strategy]. Birzeit: Brizeit University; 2001a.

    Google Scholar 

  • Jarbawi A. Critical reflections on one year of the Intifada. Between the Lines: 2001b.

  • Jarbawi A, Pearlman W. Struggle in a post-charisma transition: rethinking Palestinian politics after Arafat. J Palest Stud. 2007;36:6–21.

    Google Scholar 

  • Jerusalem Media and Communication Center [JMCC]. The stone and the olive branch: four years of the Intifada: from Jabalia to Madrid. Jerusalem: JMCC; 1991.

  • JMCC. Public Opinion Polls, June 2001 to October 2003, http://www.jmcc.org/polls.aspx.

  • JMCC. Public Opinion Poll No. 51, June 2004, http://www.jmcc.org/polls.aspx.

  • Kalyvas S. The ontology of ‘political violence’: action and identity in civil wars. Perspectives on Politics. 2003;1:475–94.

    Google Scholar 

  • Khalidi R. The Palestinian people: twenty-two years after 1967. In: Lockman Z, Beinin J, editors. Intifada: the Palestinian uprising against Israeli occupation. Washington, DC: Middle East Research and Information Project; 1989. p. 113–26.

    Google Scholar 

  • King ME. A quiet revolution: the first Palestinian Intifada and nonviolent resistance. New York: Nation Books; 2007.

  • Kuttab D. The Palestinian uprising: the second phase, self-sufficiency. J Palest Stud. 1988a;17:36–45.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kuttab D. A Profile of the Stonethrowers. J Palest Stud. 1988b;17:14–23.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kydd A, Walter BF. Sabotaging the peace: the politics of extremist violence. Int Organ. 2002;56:263–96.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Levitt M. Hizballah’s West Bank foothold. Washington Institute for Near East Policy Peacewatch 2003: 429.

  • Lichbach M. Deterrence or escalation? The puzzle of aggregate studies of repression and dissent. J Confl Resolut. 1987;31:266–97.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • McAdam D. Culture and Social Movements. In: Crothers L, Lockhart C, editors. Culture and politics: a reader. New York: Macmillan; 2000. p. 253–68.

    Google Scholar 

  • McLauchlin T, Pearlman W. Out-group conflict, in-group unity? Exploring the effect of repression on movement fragmentation. J Con Res. 2012;56:40–66.

    Google Scholar 

  • Mishal S, Aharoni R. Speaking stones: communiqués from the Intifada underground. Syracuse, NY: Syracuse University Press; 1994.

    Google Scholar 

  • Oberschal A. Social conflict and social movements. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall; 1973.

  • Parker C. Resignation or revolt? Socio-political development and the challenges of peace in Palestine. London: I.B. Tauris; 1999.

    Google Scholar 

  • Parsons N. The politics of the Palestinian Authority: from Oslo to al-Aqsa. New York: Routledge; 2005.

    Google Scholar 

  • Pearlman W. Occupied voices: stories of everyday life from the second Intifada. Nation Books; 2003.

  • Pearlman W. A composite-actor approach to conflict behavior. In: Lawrence A, Chenoweth E, editors. rethinking violence: states and non-state actors in conflict. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press; 2010. p. 197–219.

  • Pearlman W. Violence, nonviolence, and the Palestinian national movement. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press; 2011.

  • Pinto C, Jardine M. East Timor’s unfinished struggle: inside the Timorese Resistance. Cambridge: South End Press; 1997.

    Google Scholar 

  • Pressman J. Visions in collision: what happened at Camp David and Taba? Int Secur. 2003;28:5–43.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Program on International Policy Attitudes. The potential for a nonviolent Intifada: a study of Palestinian and Israeli Jewish public attitudes. 2002.

  • Rabushka A, Shepsle K. Politics in Plural Societies. Columbus: Charles E. Merrill; 1972.

    Google Scholar 

  • Rigby A. Living the Intifada. London: Zed Books; 1991.

    Google Scholar 

  • Riker WH. Implications from the disequilibrium of majority rule for the study of institutions. Am Polit Sci Rev. 1980;74:432–46.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Robinson GE. Building a Palestinian state: the incomplete revolution. Bloomington: Indiana University Press; 1997.

    Google Scholar 

  • Roy S. Gaza: new dynamics of civic disintegration. J Palest Stud. 1993;22:20–31.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Sara F. Al-buniya al-ijtimaiya lil-intifada al-Filistiniya [The Intifada’s social structure]. Shu’un Filistiniya: 1988: 189.

  • Sayigh Y. Armed struggle and the search for state: the Palestinian national movement, 1949–1993. Oxford: Oxford University Press; 1997.

    Google Scholar 

  • Sayigh Y. Arafat and the anatomy of a revolt. Survival. 2001;43:47–60.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Schiff Z and Ya’ari E. Intifada: The Palestinian Uprising: Israel’s Third Front. New York: Touchstone; 1989.

  • Sebag R. Lebanon: the Intifada’s false premise. The Middle East Quarterly 2002: 9.

  • Shalev A. The Intifada: causes and effects. Tel Aviv: Jaffee Center; 1991.

    Google Scholar 

  • Sharp G. The politics of nonviolent action. Boston: Porter Sargent; 1973.

    Google Scholar 

  • Stedman SJ. Spoiler problems in peace processes. Int Secur. 1997;22:5–53.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Stephan M. Nonviolent insurgency: the role of civilian-based resistance in the East Timorese, Palestinian, and Kosovo Albanian self-determination struggles. Tufts University: Unpublished Dissertation; 2005.

    Google Scholar 

  • Stork J. The significance of stones: notes from the seventh month. In: Lockman Z, Beinin J, editors. Intifada: the Palestinian uprising against Israeli occupation. Washington, DC: Middle East Research and Information Project; 1989. p. 67–79.

    Google Scholar 

  • Tessler M. A History of the Israeli–Palestinian Conflict. Bloomington: Indiana University Press; 1994.

    Google Scholar 

  • Tilly C. The politics of collective violence. New York: Cambridge University Press; 2003.

    Google Scholar 

  • Tilly C. Repression, mobilization, and explanation. In: Davenport C, Johnston H, Mueller C, editors. Repression and mobilization. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press; 2005. p. 211–26.

    Google Scholar 

  • U.S. Department of State. Country Reports on Human Rights Practices for 1988, ‘The Occupied Territories. J Palest Stud. 1989;28:114–6.

    Google Scholar 

  • Usher G. Facing defeat: the Intifada two years on. J Palest Stud. 2003;32:21–40.

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgments

The author is thankful for feedback on this paper gained at the Northwestern University Comparative Historical Social Science Workshop, University of Chicago Comparative Politics Workshop, Harvard University Middle East Politics Workshop, and Northeast Middle East Politics Workshop, among other conferences. She is also grateful for funding support for the research and writing of this article, provided by the United States Institute of Peace, the Palestinian American Research Center, the Harvard University–Hebrew University Graduate Fellowship, and the Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs at the John F. Kennedy School of Government.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Political Science, Northwestern University, Scott Hall, 601 University Place, #204, Evanston, IL, 60208, USA

    Wendy Pearlman

Authors
  1. Wendy Pearlman
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Wendy Pearlman.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and Permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Pearlman, W. Precluding Nonviolence, Propelling Violence: The Effect of Internal Fragmentation on Movement Protest. St Comp Int Dev 47, 23–46 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12116-012-9099-2

Download citation

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12116-012-9099-2

Keywords

  • Nonviolence
  • Violence
  • Social movements
  • Palestinians
  • Middle East
  • Arab–Israeli conflict