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Three essays on behaviour in organised political violence
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Florence : European University Institute, 2024
EUI; SPS; PhD Thesis
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POTTS, Dylan John James, Three essays on behaviour in organised political violence, Florence : European University Institute, 2024, EUI, SPS, PhD Thesis - https://hdl.handle.net/1814/77313
Abstract
What drives the decisions individuals make during wartime service? How do groups develop capacity to execute collective violence? How do democracies mobilise their populations to fight? I study these questions across American history from the Civil War, through racial violence in the Postbellum South, to the early stages of World War II. I develop theory at the individual-level, drawing from an interdisciplinary lens to answer these questions. I find that Irish-Americans who fled famine desert more in the Civil War since they are more risk averse. I show that counties settled later by whites lynch more often and have a greater capacity for collective action to demarcate racial interactions. I find that conscription and volunteering are complements in the sense that citizens are responsive to the threat of the draft and strategically enlist. In each study I collect and re-purpose large administrative datasets to measure new quantities such as an individual’s malnutrition in youth or how distinct names were across racial lines. I then deploy contemporary quantitative methods to test hypotheses with these large historical datasets, using designs such as regression discontinuities and new panel methods. I strive to use several different measurement strategies in each paper to develop a body of evidence in cases where clean identification is not feasible. I contribute to our understanding of when and why soldiers enlist and desert in cases of mass mobilisation. I also portray the importance of considering collective violence as a collective act; raising and coordinating a mob was necessary for lynchings to proliferate. Additionally, this work speaks to the importance of evaluating episodes of organised violence as a form of political behaviour. With the re-emergence of mass conventional warfare, it is crucial to diagnose the factors which define whether troops join and how they behave when on the frontlines.
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Defence date: 02 October 2024
Examining Board: Prof. Miriam Golden (European University Institute, Supervisor); Prof. Elias Dinas (European University Institute); Prof. Arturas Rozenas (New York University); Prof. Jessica Trounstine (Vanderbilt)
Examining Board: Prof. Miriam Golden (European University Institute, Supervisor); Prof. Elias Dinas (European University Institute); Prof. Arturas Rozenas (New York University); Prof. Jessica Trounstine (Vanderbilt)
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Chapter 1 'Early-life origins of wartime behaviour: the Irish potato famine and desertion in the American civil war' of the PhD thesis draws upon an earlier version published as an article 'Early-life origins of wartime behaviour: the Irish potato famine and desertion in the American civil war' (2024) in the journal 'Comparative political studies'.