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Ethno-political Organizations in the Middle East: When Do They Opt for Violence?

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  29 March 2016

Süveyda Karakaya
Süveyda Karakaya*
Affiliation:
Meliksah University, Turkey
*
Address correspondence and reprint requests to: Süveyda Karakaya, Department of Political Science and International Relations, Meliksah University, Mevlana Mahallesi, Talas, Kayseri, Turkey. E-mail: skarakaya@meliksah.edu.tr.
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Abstract

Why do some ethno-political organizations resort to violence while others abstain? Are ethno-political organizations with a religious/Islamist ideology more violence-prone compared to non-religious ones? In addition to commonly cited factors such as grievances, political opportunities/constraints, resources, and organizational characteristics, I argue that the existence of youth bulges in a society also increases the probability of adopting violent strategies by ethno-political organizations. Frustrated young males under repressive and authoritarian regimes tend to be likely recruits for violent organizations. I use the Minorities at Risk Organizational Behavior dataset, which includes 118 organizations in 16 countries of the Middle East and North Africa to test my hypotheses. The findings suggest that youth bulges, economic grievances, group fractionalization, external support, and state repression increase the probability of use of violent strategies by ethno-political organizations whereas religious ideology is insignificant. Youth bulges foster violence especially in autocratic countries.

Type
Articles
Information
Politics and Religion , Volume 9 , Issue 2 , June 2016 , pp. 332 - 363
Copyright
Copyright © Religion and Politics Section of the American Political Science Association 2016 

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