Nationalist violence and the state - Political authority and contentious repertoires in the former USSR

Political institutions help shape the timing and character of violent nationalist conflict, and state authority is intimately involved in encouraging, perpetrating, and sustaining nationalist violence. The rise of violence as a form of nationalist contention is explored through a comparative analysis of contentious behaviors in the former USSR from 1987 to 1992. The role of the state in conditioning, provoking, organizing, and perpetuating nationalist violence is examined through event data on protest mobilization and eyewitness accounts of violent action. The state is not only central in marginalizing nationalist violence but is also an obstacle in achieving this goal.