Research Article

Retreating from the Brink: Theorizing Mass Violence and the Dynamics of Restraint

Scott Straus^a1

^a1 University of Wisconsin, Madison. E-mail: sstraus@wisc.edu

Abstract

The research problem driving this paper is the absence of a strong theory that accounts for variation among cases that have similar probabilities of escalating to genocide and similar forms of organized (usually state-led) mass violence against civilians. Much of the existing theory on genocide focuses on explaining under what conditions and by what processes regimes commit large-scale violence against civilians. I argue that a critical missing dimension to studies of genocide, but also more generally to the study of political violence, is a methodological recognition of negative cases and a theoretical recognition of the dynamics of restraint that helps to explain such negative cases. That is, in addition to asking what causes leaders to choose to escalate violence, I argue that scholars should emphasize conditions that prompt moderation, de-escalation, or non-escalation. I propose an alternative framework for how to conceptualize the process of political violence and review the literature to identify key restraint mechanisms at micro, meso, and macro levels of analysis. I further articulate a provisional theory of genocide using this new analytical framework. I illustrate my argument with an empirical analysis of mass violence cases in Sub-Saharan Africa since independence, and with a more in-depth analysis of comparable crises in Rwanda and Côte d'Ivoire, where the trajectories of violence differed significantly. While this paper draws on extensive empirical research, my primary purpose is not to advance a developed new theory or to test particular hypotheses, but rather to outline a research agenda that promises to draw from and contribute to recent work on the comparative politics of violence.

Scott Straus is Professor of Political Science and International Studies at the University of Wisconsin, Madison (sstraus@wisc.edu).

Footnotes

The author thanks Tom Bassett, Evgeny Finkel, Lee Ann Fujii, Yoi Herrera, Meghan Lynch, Anne Pitcher, Jacques Semelin, Dan Slater, and three anonymous reviewers for suggestions or critiques of earlier drafts. Jeff Isaac provided enormously helpful suggestions throughout the review and editing process. Matt Scharf contributed excellent research assistance.

Versions of the paper were presented at the “Processes of Radicalization and De-Radicalization” conference at the University of Bielefeld and at the “Ethnicity in Africa” Sawyer Seminar at the University of Michigan, where the author received many useful comments. Research for the paper was supported with grants from the Harry Frank Guggenheim Foundation, the United States Institute of Peace, and the Graduate School of the University of Wisconsin, Madison. The author also thanks CERI-Sciences Po, which hosted him during the final writing of the paper.