Sam Whitt
Biographic Data
| ID | 173535 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Sam Whitt |
| GIVEN NAMES | Sam |
| FAMILY NAME | Whitt |
| SIGNATURE | WHITT S |
| AFFILIATIONS | High Point University |
| ORCID | 0000-0002-4856-5225 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 41 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 279 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 41 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2007 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2026 |
| H-INDEX | 8 |
Public support for negotiated settlement of interstate war: Evidence from Ukraine
Silence or Solidarity? The Political Pitfalls of an LGBTQI Avoidance Strategy in Hungary
Amid rising illiberal anti-LGBTQI backlash, some opposition politicians fear that resisting it is a political trap that could jeopardize their electoral fortunes. We evaluate this concern in Hungary, where Viktor Orbán’s Fidesz government passed a law banning Pride marches. The leading opposition figure, Péter Magyar of Tisza, initially avoided opposing the law, ostensibly to protect his party’s future electoral prospects. In a May 2025 survey ex…
The Recognition of Shared Suffering After Violence: Isis Victimization and LGBT+ Support in Mosul Iraq
While scholars have found that conflict-related victimization and exposure to violence can increase concern for the well-being of others, those effects have been largely circumscribed to in-group boundaries. Less clear is whether such empathy ‘born of suffering’ extends to stigmatized groups. We consider the case of public tolerance for LGBT+ people in Mosul Iraq, a city that experienced widespread violence under Islamic State (ISIS) occupation f…
Toward a Posthumanist Understanding of Wartime Suffering: Public Concern for Animal Welfare in Ukraine
Animals routinely suffer violence by humans, especially during war, but it is unclear how much people in conflict environments express concern for animal welfare. Based on a 2,008-person survey in Ukraine in May 2024, we find that respondents are anthropocentric, prioritizing human over animal suffering; biocentric, regarding both as important; or, in a small minority, zoocentric, emphasizing animal over human suffering. Experimental priming on v…
Satisfaction with democracy after presidential power transitions: Panel survey evidence from the 2025 Trump transition in the United States
Much of the existing research on satisfaction with democracy examines cross-national dynamics of the winner-loser gap, exploring how institutional differences shape public opinion. In contrast, this study holds institutional factors constant and investigates how individual-level and system-level changes, i.e. actual transitions in political power following elections, affect people’s appraisals of democracy. In a panel survey that immediately prec…
Increasing Public Support for Transgender Rights through Superordinate LGBT+ Rights Framing: Evidence from a US Survey Experiment on Transgender Participation in Sports
We consider how LGBT+ legal rights frameworks, broadly construed, can be used to bolster support within the general public for transgender subgroup rights. Our research is informed by theoretical perspectives on appeals to superordinate identities to reduce prejudice. Based on a survey experiment in the United States, we find that framing a salient transgender advocacy issue—transgender participation in sports—within a broader LGBT+ legal rights …
Sacrificing Civilians to Save Soldiers: Public Support for Counterterrorism/Counterinsurgency Operations in Mosul and Basra, Iraq
War, social preferences, and anti-outgroup behavior: Experimental evidence from Russia’s invasion of Ukraine
How does war affect social preferences toward people with conflict-related outgroup identities? While the literature often reports prosocial treatment of ingroups, such benevolence is rarely seen toward potential outgroups. We consider the case of Ukraine, where many people with Russian identity markers reside. We ask whether people in Ukraine who identify as Russian by ethnicity or language have become stigmatized following Russia’s invasion. To…
Legacies of Past and Present Violence: Evidence From Mosul, Iraq
Scholars are increasingly drawing attention to the societal consequences of conflict-related violence. What remains unclear is the interplay between short-term and long-term legacies of wartime traumas. We consider the case of Mosul, Iraq, a setting in which inhabitants have experienced wide-ranging victimization during both recent and historical contexts. In a 2022 survey, we inquired across a broad range of self-reported conflict experiences in…
War-related victimization and social distance toward others: Evidence following Russia’s 2022 invasion of Ukraine
Scholarship from wide-ranging economic, social-psychological, and evolutionary biological perspectives underscores how war entrenches in-group and out-group divisions. We examine whether Russia’s 2022 invasion of Ukraine has widened the divide between Ukrainians and Russians. Based on a July 2022 nationwide survey of Ukraine with 2000 respondents, we examine social distance toward people who identify as Russian relative to Ukrainian across an arr…
Countering International Backlash by Discrediting the Messengers: Reputational Chaining and LGBT+ Rights in Bosnia
How can LGBT+ activists counter growing international backlash, especially in conservative contexts where LGBT+ people face discrimination? We consider the consequences of linking domestic opponents of LGBT+ rights to international anti-LGBT+ messengers, arguing that such linkages might work to impede backlash. The case of Bosnia informs our study as a conservative society where LGBT+ people have made both progress but also face staunch oppositio…
Anti‐LGBTIQ rhetoric and electoral outcomes under the shadow of war: Evidence from Poland's 2023 parliamentary election
The existing literature debates how war can precipitate shifts in electoral coalitions. However, what remains unclear are the underlying cultural contestations affected by war, including how homo‐ and transphobia have been weaponized politically as a key social division during wartime elections. We examined original survey data collected before the 2023 Polish parliamentary election, which resulted in the defeat of the anti‐LGBTIQ Law & Justice P…
Retribution versus Rehabilitation for Children within Insurgency: Public Attitudes Toward Isis-Affiliated Youth in Mosul, Iraq
In the aftermath of insurgent violence, how do people view the treatment of insurgent youth, from adolescent fighters to very young children? Using an original survey, we examine public opinion regarding adolescent/child soldiers and young children in the Islamic State (ISIS) in Mosul, Iraq. Focusing retrospectively, we inquire about rehabilitative versus retributive preferences for minors who fought and worked for the Islamic State relative to a…
Public Support for Power Grabs after Civil Conflict
Power-sharing is a recognized strategy for reaching durable settlements among rivals. However, power-sharing arrangements are often violated when one side grabs power. We examine public perceptions of power-sharing versus power-grabbing in the context of local policing in Mosul, Iraq. In a survey experiment, we investigate if individuals believe that security in Mosul, in the aftermath of the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) occupation, is…
Maintaining nonviolent selfdiscipline in hostile protest environments: Evidence from the 2019 Baghdad protests
Successful civil resistance requires an enduring commitment to nonviolent selfdiscipline, often in response to repressive and provocative government tactics. We examine dedication to nonviolent collective action using the case of recent protests in Baghdad, Iraq. Based on a sample of 300 activists from 2019 anti-government protests across different locations in Baghdad, we find that those who have been exposed to violence by government forces are…
How cyber operations can reduce escalation pressures: Evidence from an experimental wargame study
Cyber operations ranging from deception and espionage to disruption and high-end degradation have become a central feature of modern statecraft in the digital age, yet we lack a clear understanding of how decision-makers employ and respond to cyber operations in times of crisis. Our research provides theoretical mechanisms and empirical evidence for understanding how decision-makers react to cyber triggers and utilize cyber responses during crise…
Theorizing Potential Downstream Cultural Consequences of LGBT+ Activism
To what extent does local LGBT+ activism have impacts beyond its immediate surroundings? We offer a theoretical framework emphasizing how a combination of local movement visibility and LGBT+ cultural receptivity can account for disseminating influences of LGBT+ activism. We illustrate our framework in part through an analysis of the potential diffusion of LGBT+ support in Bosnia in the aftermath of the country's first-ever Pride. Our model explai…
Gender, Agency, and Accountability for Isis Violence: Public Perspectives from Mosul, Iraq
What role does gender play in public perceptions of accountability for terrorist and insurgency-related violence? Our research draws on the case of women in the Islamic State (ISIS) in Mosul, Iraq. We evaluate public opinion regarding punishment of ISIS-affiliated women among residents of Mosul as well as within internal displacement camps outside Mosul. We provide a theoretical framework for explaining how beliefs about women’s agency for violen…
Explaining Partisan Gaps in Satisfaction with Democracy after Contentious Elections: Evidence from a US 2020 Election Panel Survey
What effects do contentious elections have on partisan appraisals of democracy? We consider the case of the November 2020 US election, a highly polarized partisan contest but also an objectively free and fair election by credible accounting. We conducted a panel study embedded within two nationally representative surveys before and after the election. Results indicate a familiar but underexamined partisan gap, in which satisfaction with democracy…
Legacies of Stalin or Putin? Public Opinion and Historical Memory in Ukraine
Our research considers the relationship between historical memory and political evaluations of the past and present. We first examine how historical reflection on the Soviet Union under Stalin is influenced by memories of familial suffering during World War II and victimization under the widespread Soviet gulag prison system. Based on a 2019 representative survey of Ukraine, we show that respondents who recall family members being injured or kill…
Due Process and Accountability Under Transitional Justice: Evidence from Mosul, Iraq
Do citizens care about due process rights when holding insurgent groups accountable for violence? We examine public perceptions of justice and fairness in judicial proceedings brought against suspected Islamic State (ISIS) militants and their supporters in Mosul, Iraq. We conducted a survey of Mosul residents and people in ISIS-affiliated displacement camps outside Mosul to evaluate public support for detainee due process rights. Using a trial an…
Conflict and parochialism among combatants and civilians: Evidence from Ukraine
Inter-group contact and out-group altruism after violence
Public Tolerance of Retributive Violence against Insurgencies
What drives public support for retributive violence against insurgents, a desire for revenge or security? We consider the case of suspected Islamic State (ISIS) militants in Mosul Iraq. Using survey experiments, we inquire about public support for judicial as well as extrajudicial violence against insurgent combatants. We sample among ordinary civilians in Mosul who lived under ISIS rule as well as ISIS-affiliated families in displacement camps o…
Ethnic trust, minority status, and public goods in post-conflict societies
This study considers how ethnic trust and minority status can impact the ability of ethnic groups to pursue cooperative public goods, focusing on groups with a history of conflict and lingering hostility. A public good experiment between ethnic Albanians and Serbs in postwar Kosovo reveals that subjects contribute far more to a mutually beneficial public good when they are part of an experimentally induced coethnic majority. However, when in the …
The Dictator Game, Fairness and Ethnicity in Postwar Bosnia
This study considers the effects of ethnic violence on norms of fairness. Once violence is a foregone conclusion, will cooperative norms ever (re‐)emerge beyond ethnic boundaries? We use an experiment that measures how fairly individuals in a postconflict setting treat their own ingroup in comparison to the outgroups—in this case, examining the behavior of 681 Muslims, Croats, and Serbs in postwar Bosnia‐Herzegovina. To assess fairness, we use th…
Pride amid Prejudice: The Influence of LGBT+ Rights Activism in a Socially Conservative Society
How do mass publics react to lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT+) advocacy efforts in socially conservative societies? We consider how the first-ever LGBT+ Pride in Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina influences ordinary citizens' attitudes and behavior regarding LGBT+ support. Using nationwide and local panel surveys, we find that support for LGBT+ activism increased locally after the Pride but did not diffuse nationwide, signaling how p…
Social Norms after Conflict Exposure and Victimization by Violence: Experimental Evidence from Kosovo
An emerging literature points to the heterogeneous effects of violence on social norms and preferences in conflict-ridden societies. This article considers how responses to violence could be affected by in-group/out-group divisions. The research uses lab-in-the-field experiments to gauge norms for pro-social behavior in the aftermath of ethnic violence in post-war Kosovo. The study finds that one set of treatments (ethnicity) captures a negative …
Ethnicity and Altruism After Violence: The Contact Hypothesis in Kosovo
An enduring question for the social sciences is whether increasing contact and exposure between in-groups and out-groups enhances prospects for social tolerance and cooperation. Using dictator experiments with ethnic Serbs in post-war Kosovo, our research explores how norms of altruism are impacted by proximity to former rivals. In the aftermath of violence, proximity appears to amplify solidarity with the in-group but also increases empathy towa…
International Peacekeeping and Positive Peace: Evidence from Kosovo
To what extent can international peacekeeping promote micro-foundations for positive peace after violence? Drawing on macro-level peacekeeping theory, our approach uses novel experimental methods to illustrate how monitoring and enforcement by a neutral third party could conceivably enhance prosocial behavior between rival groups in a tense, postconflict peacekeeping environment. Using a laboratory experiment in postwar Kosovo, we find that third…
The evolution of prosociality and parochialism after violence
To what extent can prosocial norms (re-)emerge among rival groups following intense intergroup conflict? One school of thought posits that violence can strengthen intragroup bonding norms, entrenching parochialism and sustaining in-group biases. However, recent studies suggest that intergroup bridging norms can also improve once conflict ends. Our research offers insights into how prosocial bridging vs. parochial bonding norms evolve after violen…
Tribalism in America: Behavioral Experiments on Affective Polarization in the Trump Era
Our research speaks to the ongoing debate over the extent and severity of partisan political divisions in American society. We employ behavioral experiments to probe for affective polarization using dictator, trust, and public goods games with party identification treatments. We find that subjects who identify politically with the Democratic or Republican Party and ideologically as liberals and conservatives display stronger affective biases than…
Institutions and Ethnic Trust: Evidence from Bosnia
This study considers the prospects for rebuilding trust in a multi-ethnic society with a history of ethnic violence. Findings are based on survey data from a stratified random sample of 681 Bosnian Serbs, Croats and Bosniaks, conducted between September 2003 and January 2004. The data indicate significant trust problems in Bosnian society both within and across ethnicity. However, the study also finds strong linkages between ethnic trust and trus…
Social Norms in the Aftermath of Ethnic Violence: Ethnicity and Fairness in Non-costly Decision Making
This study considers prospects for the revitalization of social norms after ethnic violence using a behavioral experiment in postwar Bosnia. In the experiment, subjects are asked to distribute a ten-unit monetary sum between two anonymous recipients of random ethnicity. The results indicate a surprisingly high number of egalitarian distributions across ethnicity, which is interpreted as evidence of a norm of fairness. Discriminating behavior in t…
Inter-group contact and out-group altruism after violence
Legacies of Stalin or Putin? Public Opinion and Historical Memory in Ukraine
Our research considers the relationship between historical memory and political evaluations of the past and present. We first examine how historical reflection on the Soviet Union under Stalin is influenced by memories of familial suffering during World War II and victimization under the widespread Soviet gulag prison system. Based on a 2019 representative survey of Ukraine, we show that respondents who recall family members being injured or kill…
Commitment to Rebellion: Evidence from Syria
What sustains commitment to rebel fighting during civil war? Using original survey data from the ongoing conflict in Syria, we examine whether self-ascribed rebel fighters, former fighters, civilians, and refugees can be clearly differentiated based on commitment to rebellion. We ask whether such groups are better characterized as a broadly holistic fighting community or a heterogeneous mix of actors with different levels of support for violence.…
Risk tolerance during conflict: Evidence from Aleppo, Syria
When war breaks out, how important are risk preferences to explaining why some individuals stay in conflict zones while others take flight? We examine risk tolerance among rebel combatants and civilians in Aleppo, Syria using a variation of the Eckel-Grossman Choice Game. Field work in Syria was conducted in 2013-14 with a total of 232 participants to include both Syrian civilians and active rebel fighters in Aleppo and Idlib Province, as well as…
Conflict and parochialism among combatants and civilians: Evidence from Ukraine
Beyond Keeping the Peace: Can Peacekeepers Reduce Ethnic Divisions After Violence
Rebel Group Attrition and Reversion to Violence: Micro-Level Evidence from Syria
Why might former rebel combatants ever revert to fighting? The purpose of this research note is to inform the scholarly community on rebel incentives to remobilize for violence, a topic which has been underexplored in the literature, using evidence from an ongoing conflict: the case of volunteer ex-combatants in the Syrian civil war. In late 2014 to early 2015, we conducted surveys with 196 ex-fighters who served with different rebel group brigad…
How cyber operations can reduce escalation pressures: Evidence from an experimental wargame study
Cyber operations ranging from deception and espionage to disruption and high-end degradation have become a central feature of modern statecraft in the digital age, yet we lack a clear understanding of how decision-makers employ and respond to cyber operations in times of crisis. Our research provides theoretical mechanisms and empirical evidence for understanding how decision-makers react to cyber triggers and utilize cyber responses during crise…
Mobilizing civilians into high-risk forms of violent collective action
We consider whether prior political activism increases the likelihood of engaging in higher-risk forms of violent collective action. We test our hypothesis in the context of the 2014 Euromaidan and subsequent separatist violence in Eastern Ukraine. In the aftermath of the Euromaidan protests, the Ukrainian government began a widespread campaign to mobilize young men for military service against separatist movements in the Donbas region amid escal…
Countering International Backlash by Discrediting the Messengers: Reputational Chaining and LGBT+ Rights in Bosnia
How can LGBT+ activists counter growing international backlash, especially in conservative contexts where LGBT+ people face discrimination? We consider the consequences of linking domestic opponents of LGBT+ rights to international anti-LGBT+ messengers, arguing that such linkages might work to impede backlash. The case of Bosnia informs our study as a conservative society where LGBT+ people have made both progress but also face staunch oppositio…
Due Process and Accountability Under Transitional Justice: Evidence from Mosul, Iraq
Do citizens care about due process rights when holding insurgent groups accountable for violence? We examine public perceptions of justice and fairness in judicial proceedings brought against suspected Islamic State (ISIS) militants and their supporters in Mosul, Iraq. We conducted a survey of Mosul residents and people in ISIS-affiliated displacement camps outside Mosul to evaluate public support for detainee due process rights. Using a trial an…
Confronting Wartime Sexual Violence: Public Support for Survivors in Bosnia
Existing research on conflict-related sexual violence focuses on the motivations of perpetrators and effects on survivors. What remains less clear is how postconflict societies respond to the hardships survivors face. In survey experiments in Bosnia, we examine public support for financial aid, legal aid, and public recognition for survivors. First, we find a persistent ethnocentric view of sexual violence, where respondents are less supportive w…
The Recognition of Shared Suffering After Violence: Isis Victimization and LGBT+ Support in Mosul Iraq
While scholars have found that conflict-related victimization and exposure to violence can increase concern for the well-being of others, those effects have been largely circumscribed to in-group boundaries. Less clear is whether such empathy ‘born of suffering’ extends to stigmatized groups. We consider the case of public tolerance for LGBT+ people in Mosul Iraq, a city that experienced widespread violence under Islamic State (ISIS) occupation f…
Increasing Public Support for Transgender Rights through Superordinate LGBT+ Rights Framing: Evidence from a US Survey Experiment on Transgender Participation in Sports
We consider how LGBT+ legal rights frameworks, broadly construed, can be used to bolster support within the general public for transgender subgroup rights. Our research is informed by theoretical perspectives on appeals to superordinate identities to reduce prejudice. Based on a survey experiment in the United States, we find that framing a salient transgender advocacy issue—transgender participation in sports—within a broader LGBT+ legal rights …
Anti‐LGBTIQ rhetoric and electoral outcomes under the shadow of war: Evidence from Poland's 2023 parliamentary election
The existing literature debates how war can precipitate shifts in electoral coalitions. However, what remains unclear are the underlying cultural contestations affected by war, including how homo‐ and transphobia have been weaponized politically as a key social division during wartime elections. We examined original survey data collected before the 2023 Polish parliamentary election, which resulted in the defeat of the anti‐LGBTIQ Law & Justice P…
Public Tolerance of Retributive Violence against Insurgencies
What drives public support for retributive violence against insurgents, a desire for revenge or security? We consider the case of suspected Islamic State (ISIS) militants in Mosul Iraq. Using survey experiments, we inquire about public support for judicial as well as extrajudicial violence against insurgent combatants. We sample among ordinary civilians in Mosul who lived under ISIS rule as well as ISIS-affiliated families in displacement camps o…
The Dictator Game, Fairness and Ethnicity in Postwar Bosnia
This study considers the effects of ethnic violence on norms of fairness. Once violence is a foregone conclusion, will cooperative norms ever (re‐)emerge beyond ethnic boundaries? We use an experiment that measures how fairly individuals in a postconflict setting treat their own ingroup in comparison to the outgroups—in this case, examining the behavior of 681 Muslims, Croats, and Serbs in postwar Bosnia‐Herzegovina. To assess fairness, we use th…
Institutions and Ethnic Trust: Evidence from Bosnia
This study considers the prospects for rebuilding trust in a multi-ethnic society with a history of ethnic violence. Findings are based on survey data from a stratified random sample of 681 Bosnian Serbs, Croats and Bosniaks, conducted between September 2003 and January 2004. The data indicate significant trust problems in Bosnian society both within and across ethnicity. However, the study also finds strong linkages between ethnic trust and trus…
Legacies of violence: Trust and market development
Ethnicity and Altruism After Violence: The Contact Hypothesis in Kosovo
An enduring question for the social sciences is whether increasing contact and exposure between in-groups and out-groups enhances prospects for social tolerance and cooperation. Using dictator experiments with ethnic Serbs in post-war Kosovo, our research explores how norms of altruism are impacted by proximity to former rivals. In the aftermath of violence, proximity appears to amplify solidarity with the in-group but also increases empathy towa…
Social Norms in the Aftermath of Ethnic Violence: Ethnicity and Fairness in Non-costly Decision Making
This study considers prospects for the revitalization of social norms after ethnic violence using a behavioral experiment in postwar Bosnia. In the experiment, subjects are asked to distribute a ten-unit monetary sum between two anonymous recipients of random ethnicity. The results indicate a surprisingly high number of egalitarian distributions across ethnicity, which is interpreted as evidence of a norm of fairness. Discriminating behavior in t…
The evolution of prosociality and parochialism after violence
To what extent can prosocial norms (re-)emerge among rival groups following intense intergroup conflict? One school of thought posits that violence can strengthen intragroup bonding norms, entrenching parochialism and sustaining in-group biases. However, recent studies suggest that intergroup bridging norms can also improve once conflict ends. Our research offers insights into how prosocial bridging vs. parochial bonding norms evolve after violen…
International Peacekeeping and Positive Peace: Evidence from Kosovo
To what extent can international peacekeeping promote micro-foundations for positive peace after violence? Drawing on macro-level peacekeeping theory, our approach uses novel experimental methods to illustrate how monitoring and enforcement by a neutral third party could conceivably enhance prosocial behavior between rival groups in a tense, postconflict peacekeeping environment. Using a laboratory experiment in postwar Kosovo, we find that third…
Social Norms after Conflict Exposure and Victimization by Violence: Experimental Evidence from Kosovo
An emerging literature points to the heterogeneous effects of violence on social norms and preferences in conflict-ridden societies. This article considers how responses to violence could be affected by in-group/out-group divisions. The research uses lab-in-the-field experiments to gauge norms for pro-social behavior in the aftermath of ethnic violence in post-war Kosovo. The study finds that one set of treatments (ethnicity) captures a negative …
Risk tolerance during conflict: Evidence from Aleppo, Syria
When war breaks out, how important are risk preferences to explaining why some individuals stay in conflict zones while others take flight? We examine risk tolerance among rebel combatants and civilians in Aleppo, Syria using a variation of the Eckel-Grossman Choice Game. Field work in Syria was conducted in 2013-14 with a total of 232 participants to include both Syrian civilians and active rebel fighters in Aleppo and Idlib Province, as well as…
Tribalism in America: Behavioral Experiments on Affective Polarization in the Trump Era
Our research speaks to the ongoing debate over the extent and severity of partisan political divisions in American society. We employ behavioral experiments to probe for affective polarization using dictator, trust, and public goods games with party identification treatments. We find that subjects who identify politically with the Democratic or Republican Party and ideologically as liberals and conservatives display stronger affective biases than…
Beyond Keeping the Peace: Can Peacekeepers Reduce Ethnic Divisions After Violence
Confronting Wartime Sexual Violence: Public Support for Survivors in Bosnia
Existing research on conflict-related sexual violence focuses on the motivations of perpetrators and effects on survivors. What remains less clear is how postconflict societies respond to the hardships survivors face. In survey experiments in Bosnia, we examine public support for financial aid, legal aid, and public recognition for survivors. First, we find a persistent ethnocentric view of sexual violence, where respondents are less supportive w…
Commitment to Rebellion: Evidence from Syria
What sustains commitment to rebel fighting during civil war? Using original survey data from the ongoing conflict in Syria, we examine whether self-ascribed rebel fighters, former fighters, civilians, and refugees can be clearly differentiated based on commitment to rebellion. We ask whether such groups are better characterized as a broadly holistic fighting community or a heterogeneous mix of actors with different levels of support for violence.…
Rebel Group Attrition and Reversion to Violence: Micro-Level Evidence from Syria
Why might former rebel combatants ever revert to fighting? The purpose of this research note is to inform the scholarly community on rebel incentives to remobilize for violence, a topic which has been underexplored in the literature, using evidence from an ongoing conflict: the case of volunteer ex-combatants in the Syrian civil war. In late 2014 to early 2015, we conducted surveys with 196 ex-fighters who served with different rebel group brigad…
Mobilizing civilians into high-risk forms of violent collective action
We consider whether prior political activism increases the likelihood of engaging in higher-risk forms of violent collective action. We test our hypothesis in the context of the 2014 Euromaidan and subsequent separatist violence in Eastern Ukraine. In the aftermath of the Euromaidan protests, the Ukrainian government began a widespread campaign to mobilize young men for military service against separatist movements in the Donbas region amid escal…
Conflict and parochialism among combatants and civilians: Evidence from Ukraine
Inter-group contact and out-group altruism after violence
Public Tolerance of Retributive Violence against Insurgencies
What drives public support for retributive violence against insurgents, a desire for revenge or security? We consider the case of suspected Islamic State (ISIS) militants in Mosul Iraq. Using survey experiments, we inquire about public support for judicial as well as extrajudicial violence against insurgent combatants. We sample among ordinary civilians in Mosul who lived under ISIS rule as well as ISIS-affiliated families in displacement camps o…
Ethnic trust, minority status, and public goods in post-conflict societies
This study considers how ethnic trust and minority status can impact the ability of ethnic groups to pursue cooperative public goods, focusing on groups with a history of conflict and lingering hostility. A public good experiment between ethnic Albanians and Serbs in postwar Kosovo reveals that subjects contribute far more to a mutually beneficial public good when they are part of an experimentally induced coethnic majority. However, when in the …
Pride amid Prejudice: The Influence of LGBT+ Rights Activism in a Socially Conservative Society
How do mass publics react to lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT+) advocacy efforts in socially conservative societies? We consider how the first-ever LGBT+ Pride in Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina influences ordinary citizens' attitudes and behavior regarding LGBT+ support. Using nationwide and local panel surveys, we find that support for LGBT+ activism increased locally after the Pride but did not diffuse nationwide, signaling how p…
Legacies of Stalin or Putin? Public Opinion and Historical Memory in Ukraine
Our research considers the relationship between historical memory and political evaluations of the past and present. We first examine how historical reflection on the Soviet Union under Stalin is influenced by memories of familial suffering during World War II and victimization under the widespread Soviet gulag prison system. Based on a 2019 representative survey of Ukraine, we show that respondents who recall family members being injured or kill…
Due Process and Accountability Under Transitional Justice: Evidence from Mosul, Iraq
Do citizens care about due process rights when holding insurgent groups accountable for violence? We examine public perceptions of justice and fairness in judicial proceedings brought against suspected Islamic State (ISIS) militants and their supporters in Mosul, Iraq. We conducted a survey of Mosul residents and people in ISIS-affiliated displacement camps outside Mosul to evaluate public support for detainee due process rights. Using a trial an…
Gender, Agency, and Accountability for Isis Violence: Public Perspectives from Mosul, Iraq
What role does gender play in public perceptions of accountability for terrorist and insurgency-related violence? Our research draws on the case of women in the Islamic State (ISIS) in Mosul, Iraq. We evaluate public opinion regarding punishment of ISIS-affiliated women among residents of Mosul as well as within internal displacement camps outside Mosul. We provide a theoretical framework for explaining how beliefs about women’s agency for violen…
Explaining Partisan Gaps in Satisfaction with Democracy after Contentious Elections: Evidence from a US 2020 Election Panel Survey
What effects do contentious elections have on partisan appraisals of democracy? We consider the case of the November 2020 US election, a highly polarized partisan contest but also an objectively free and fair election by credible accounting. We conducted a panel study embedded within two nationally representative surveys before and after the election. Results indicate a familiar but underexamined partisan gap, in which satisfaction with democracy…
Public Support for Power Grabs after Civil Conflict
Power-sharing is a recognized strategy for reaching durable settlements among rivals. However, power-sharing arrangements are often violated when one side grabs power. We examine public perceptions of power-sharing versus power-grabbing in the context of local policing in Mosul, Iraq. In a survey experiment, we investigate if individuals believe that security in Mosul, in the aftermath of the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) occupation, is…
Political science (35 works) · Law (32 works) · Law (25 works) · Psychology (25 works) · Political Conflict and Governance (22 works) · Politics (21 works) · Social Psychology (21 works) · Sociology (20 works) · Criminology (16 works) · Social Psychology (16 works)