What people believe matters. It matters, most crucially, to decisions about how to act. We all must make sense of
Dialogue projects have also been able to positively affect the broader sociopolitical context in BiH, largely through the work of affiliated alumni action groups who have engaged in joint action and activism to address societal problems, thereby demonstrating “that it is possible to bridge ethnic divides.”
Photo-monologues and photo-dialogues were a useful educational tool to help Israeli and Palestinian students empathize with each other over shared familial trauma associated with migration to or from Israel.
A list experiment is an effective research method for uncovering sensitive information, as its use suggests that sexual violence was much more prevalent during the Sri Lankan civil war (affecting about 13.4% of the population) than direct questioning would indicate (at 1.4% of the population).
Diaspora support for militant groups is associated with a 7% increased probability that the militant group will shift towards nonviolent tactics.
“[W]hether public opinion is a constraint on military action or an effect of threats strongly depends on the primary objective of the military operation and whether or not the threats to a state’s national interests are clear and tangible.”
There are fairly evenly split views on the possibility of reconciliation with former combatants, as well as varied opinions (sometimes along gender, income, education level, and/or regional lines) on which activities would foster reconciliation and how willing respondents would be to come into close contact with former combatants.
Limiting both state violence and activist violence in the context of a civil resistance struggle is important to movement success.
In Barcelona, a four-day-long riot associated with 15-M led to an overall 12-point decline in public support for the movement.
Certain gendered myths—like the “gentleman soldier” and “women as peacebuilders”—were used by the Rwandan Defense Forces to re-assert traditional gender roles.