The Genesis of Rebellion

Pfaff, Steven; Hechter, Michael

doi:10.1017/9781108149853

Cited by 6 publications

(1 citation statement)

References 216 publications

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“…146 Conversely, Pfaff and Hetcher have found mutinous pirates and sailors were pardoned increasingly more often by the British navy. 147 Rebel forgiveness tells a wider story of bargaining power of intermediaries influencing institutional design.…”

Section: Conclusion and Wider Implicationsmentioning

confidence: 99%

State of forgiveness: Cooperation, conciliation, and state formation in Mughal South Asia (1556–1707)

Morshed

2023

The Economic History Review

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This paper contributes to a growing literature on state capacity with reference to the early modern Asian empires. The historiography of these states, and especially the Mughal empire of South Asia, has moved away from an image of unrestrained despotism towards that of a constrained state, but has yet to explore fully what these constraints were and what the state did to overcome them. Using a new dataset on conflicts in Mughal South Asia, and an analytical model, the paper shows how forgiving rebel leaders was used as a strategic tool to secure stability, in a setting where high information costs made intermediaries indispensable to the state. The paper also offers some comparison between Asian empires on the role of intermediaries in shaping state constraint and fiscal policies.

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Section: Conclusion and Wider Implicationsmentioning

confidence: 99%

State of forgiveness: Cooperation, conciliation, and state formation in Mughal South Asia (1556–1707)

Morshed

2023

The Economic History Review

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Explaining the diffusion of radical ideas

Hsiao

Pfaff

2022

Sociology Compass

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Growing interest in the diffusion of radicalism reflects concern with political discontent and widening social inequality. It also reflects the profoundly different forms of communication emerging from the new digital media environment that are recasting radical politics. Sociology has important and longstanding insights into the incubation of radical ideas and the inception of radical movements. Drawing on general network models, particularly threshold network diffusion models, we argue for a compelling perspective on the diffusion of radicalism that is emerging in contemporary sociology. Studying the spread of radical ideas contributes to the development of the diffusion literature by underscoring the limitations of static and singular network explanations-explanations that examine one network and one direction of influence at time. We contend that scholars should distinguish between the limited diffusion of radical ideas and the widespread diffusion of radical ideas. To explain the latter, network theories should integrate frameworks of multiplex networks and network ecosystems, as illustrated by research on the rise of radical right-wing political rhetoric. We consider how sociology might inform strategies for containing radicalism before drawing conclusions about future conceptual and methodological directions in research on radicalism.

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The Rationality of Oaths in Armed Struggle: A Dynamic Model of Commitment and the Mau Mau Insurgency (1952–1956)

Hsiao¹,

Pfaff²

2023

Journal of Economics, Management and Religion

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In this paper, we develop the rationality of oath giving and the socially functional role that oaths can play in securing the commitment of members of conflict groups. Oaths are a reoccurring feature of insurgencies, armed struggles, and revolutionary movements. Oaths grow out of a general set of cultural practices that leverage superstitious beliefs to perform socially valuable functions and to produce normative conformity within groups. Applied to insurgencies, we argue that swearing oaths can motivate and sustain commitment to a cause. We apply our theory to the case of the Mau Mau rebellion in which oaths played a conspicuous role. Originally carrying religious meaning among Kenyan tribes, Mau Mau leaders repurpose oathings to enhance commitment. In its repurposed form, oathing incentives relied less on supernatural sanctions and more on credibly threatening defectors with physical in-group and out-group punishment. The Mau Mau highlights how an old cultural form can be used to ground innovations and how superstition-based practices that confer group benefits might continue to do so by permitting the creation of worldly incentives even after (or when) the superstition is stripped from them.

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The Genesis of Rebellion

Cited by 6 publications

References 216 publications

State of forgiveness: Cooperation, conciliation, and state formation in Mughal South Asia (1556–1707)

State of forgiveness: Cooperation, conciliation, and state formation in Mughal South Asia (1556–1707)

Explaining the diffusion of radical ideas

The Rationality of Oaths in Armed Struggle: A Dynamic Model of Commitment and the Mau Mau Insurgency (1952–1956)

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