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Legacies of Wartime Sexual Violence

Survivors, Psychological Harms, and Mobilization

Bibliographic Data

ID3275486
AuthorsSummer Lindsey (0000-0003-2254-815X, Rutgers, the State University of New Jersey, corresponding author), Cheryl Koos (0000-0002-1259-7495, University of Bergen, corresponding author)
Year2025
Volume119
Issue2
Pages653-669
Publication date2025-05-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueAmerican Political Science Review (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0003-0554 • E-ISSN: 1537-5943
PublisherCambridge University Press (CUP) (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.1017/s000305542400042x
OpenAlexW4399054312
LanguageEN
Citations received7
References cited53

What are the psychological, social, and political legacies of sexual violence in armed conflicts? While conventional wisdom expects the exclusion of survivors from their societies due to stigma, we advance a theory of sociopolitical mobilization among wartime sexual violence survivors and their households. Our theory emphasizes the value that people place on their communities in conflict-affected contexts and incorporates the psychosocial harms that survivor-households experience as well as their agency. We use an original survey from eastern Democratic Republic of Congo to evaluate the theory. Analyses using list experiment measures of wartime sexual violence show that survivor-households engage in increased levels of social and political activities in their communities. Auxiliary analyses suggest that mobilization is driven by stigmatization and self-blame, a finding that resonates with social psychological research on exclusion and social reconnection

Criminology · Mobilization · Political science · Sexual violence · Clinical Psychology · Gender, Security, and Conflict · Historical and Contemporary Political Dynamics · Law · Migration, Health and Trauma · Psychology

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Unique citing works7
Citations per year7
Citation span2025 - 2026 (2)
Citation velocitycurrent
Highly citedNo
Citation typesNeutral: 6

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