Social Science Research Council

The GSC Program of the SSRC has partnered with the Norwegian Institute of International Affairs (NUPI) to launch a new research project on political violence. The overarching objective of this project is to narrow the large gap between policy makers and analysts with regard to appropriate responses to political violence. Through a combination of detailed case analysis and a comparative framework, the project aims to provide a better understanding of these groups as well as to formulate realistic policy recommendations. In later phases of the project, a Policy Reference Group will be established to assist the project in concrete policy formulation. This group will consist of four to five eminent policy-makers who will disseminate as broadly as possible the project results to relevant governments and organizations.

On June 17-18, the GSC along with NUPI convened an inaugural workshop entitled “Assessing Political/Military Responses to Political Violence: A Comparative Case Analysis.” Held in Amsterdam, this workshop brought together nine distinguished scholars who have extensive field experience with militant groups of the type often designated as terrorist. The participants examined a broad cross section of groups ranging from the Free Aceh Movement in Indonesia and the FARC in Colombia to the PKK in Turkey and Hamas in the Palestinian territories. The groups chosen include those that derive their legitimacy from religious as well as secular ideologies, and those that operate under varying degrees of authoritarian regimes as well as those active in modern democratic societies. Workshop discussions were guided by a series of analytical questions focusing on the groups’ leadership structures, the character of their social bases, the role of diasporas and the function of violence.