Keeping the Peace
In times of extreme violence, what explains peace in some places? This book investigates geographic variation in Hindu-Muslim violence in Gujarat in 2002, an event witnessed closely by the author. It compares peaceful and violent towns, villages, and neighbourhoods to study how political violence spreads. A combination of statistical and ethnographic methods unpack the mechanisms of crowd behaviour, intergroup relations, and political incentives. Macro-level risk factors that led to the violence are analysed to provide a close understanding of the behaviour of people who participated in the violence, were targeted by it and, often, compelled to carry on living alongside their perpetrators. Findings systematically demonstrate the implicit political logic of the violence. Most of all, by moving up close to the people caught in the middle of violence; findings highlight the interplay between politics, the spatial environment, and the cognitive decision-making processes of individuals.
- Contains macro-level analysis of 216 towns and rural areas, and interview excerpts of 162 respondents, including nine rioters
- Includes end-of-chapter summaries, apart from the concluding chapter
Product details
May 2019Adobe eBook Reader
9781108642606
0 pages
This ISBN is for an eBook version which is distributed on our behalf by a third party.
Table of Contents
- List of tables
- List of images
- List of figures
- Preface
- Acknowledgements
- 1. Explaining variation in violence: an introduction
- 2. Peace and violence: concepts and theory
- 3. The political logic of violence: anti-Muslim pogrom in Gujarat
- 4. Ahmedabad
- 5. Spatial configuration: variation in violence across neighbourhoods
- 6. Monitoring and control in two peaceful neighbourhoods
- 7. So near, and yet so far: group relations between victims and perpetrators of violence
- 8. BJP's Muslim supporters in Ahmedabad
- 9. Ethnic violence: connecting the macro with the micro
- Bibliography
- Index.