Political Violence

Dr. Anna-Lena Hönig

Department of Politics and Public Administration,
Research Group Global Inequality,
Cluster of Excellence ”The Politics of Inequality”, May 5, 2023
Outline

1 Review: Variation in political violence

2 State-sponsored violence

3 Repression

4 Analyzing journal articles

5 What is a good research question?

6 Resources

7 Outlook

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1 Review: Variation in political violence

1 Review: Variation in political violence

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1 Review: Variation in political violence

Variation in political violence

As a group

- Which dimensions does Kalyvas (2019) use in his typology of political violence?
- Identify a current example of political violence. Where would you place it in the
typology?

- Working time: 10 Minutes

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2 State-sponsored violence

2 State-sponsored violence

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3 Repression

3 Repression

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3 Repression

Repression

As a group

- Watch the video.

- How can we define what political repression is?

- Draft a definition.

- Working time: 10 Minutes

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4 Analyzing journal articles

4 Analyzing journal articles

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4 Analyzing journal articles

Analyzing journal articles Gohdes/Carey (2017)

Discuss with your neighbor

- Which sections does the article have and how do they correspond to the sections of
our research design paper?
- What is the dependent variable?
- What is the explanatory/independent variable?
- What is the research question?
- What is the hypothesis?
- What is the main theoretical argument?
- What is the data?
- What is the research design?
- What is the main finding?

- Working time: 10 minutes

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5 What is a good research question?

5 What is a good research question?

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5 What is a good research question?

Drafting a research question

Discuss with your neighbor

- What is a good research question?

- Working time: 5 minutes

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5 What is a good research question?

Characteristics of a good research question for your final paper

- Analytical and explanatory rather then descriptive

- Feasibility and suitable scope
- Fits theory, hypotheses, and research design
- Matches seminar content
- Not answerable with yes/no
- Useful are ”why?”, ”how can we explain?, or ”what is the effect of x on y?” questions

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6 Resources

6 Resources

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7 Outlook

7 Outlook

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7 Outlook

Session 4
- State-sponsored violence: Mass atrocities
- Why are ordinary citizens killed?
- What makes it political violence?
- Presentation: V-Dem, Polity V, Freedom House, PGM Database
- Drafting your research question

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