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Expressions of Radicalization pp 209–246Cite as

Palgrave Macmillan

Contexts of Radicalization: An Inductive Meta-Analysis of 41 Case Studies of Contentious Elections

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Abstract

Megan Reif Dyfvermark uses thematic synthesis, an inductive form of meta-analysis, to explore how a sample of qualitative studies of contentious elections discusses radicalism and violence. Finding that radicals are neither the only nor the predominant perpetrators of election violence, the study redefines radicalism based on four other characteristics that the sample’s diverse radical actors and ideologies share. Observing that elections held under conditions of institutional uncertainty, increasing political competition, and militarization are important contexts in which actors with proposals for radical economic and political change become viable and threaten the mainstream defenders of the status quo, Reif Dyfvermark presents potentially generalizable hypotheses about the specific conditions under which they use election violence that can, along with the definition, guide future research to better distinguish radical ideology from violent behavior.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    Waldman, P. The silly, distracting debate over whether to use the words “radical Islam .” The Washington Post, 15 November 2016; Wright, D. (2016). Clinton : I’ll say the words “radical Islamism.” CNN Politics, 14 June 2016.

  2. 2.

    Hains, T. Trump Senior Policy Advisor: “Ted Cruz is a radical Wall Street globalist.” Real Clear Politics, 4 April 2016.

  3. 3.

    Ip, G. How Sanders, Trump threaten market confidence: Populist political outsiders bring radical policy proposals and little allegiance to economic orthodoxy. Wall Street Journal, 17 February 2016.

  4. 4.

    Kamisar, B. Rubio: Democratic Party “taken over by radical left-wing elements .” The Hill, 17 February 2016.

  5. 5.

    Real Clear Politics. David Brooks: The Republican Party is “radicalized,” “And this is why we shouldn’t hand Trump the nomination”, 23 January 2016.

  6. 6.

    Beinart, P. The violence to come. The Atlantic 3 March 2016; Potok, M. Anti-Muslim hate crimes surged last year, fueled by hateful campaign . Southern Poverty Law Center. 14 November 2016. Available at www.splcenter.org/hatewatch/2016/11/14/anti-muslim-hate-crimes-surged-last-year-fueled-hateful-campaign [accessed 15 January 2017].

  7. 7.

    Sullivan, S., Miller, M.M. (2016). Ugly, bloody scenes in San Jose as protesters attack Trump supporters outside rally. The Washington Post, 3 June 2016; Potok, M. (2016). The year in hate and extremism. Southern Poverty Law Center. 17 February 2016. Available at www.splcenter.org/fighting-hate/intelligence-report/2016/year-hate-and-extremism [Accessed 14 January 2017).

  8. 8.

    Spreadsheets with the raw codes, extracted text, and commentary are available upon request.

  9. 9.

    My original intention was to limit eligible studies to those published only in peer-reviewed journals in political science, history, anthropology, or other social science disciplines, but doing so systematically excluded many studies from several countries and world regions and local and by-elections, which would make the conclusions less generalizable. Papers by authors with scholarly credentials and university affiliations, proper citation of primary and secondary sources, acknowledgements that indicated that the paper was subject to review and quality control, caveats and other indicators of transparency, and discussion of methods and sources of bias, such as missing information, are a few of the criteria studies had to meet to be included in the final sample.

  10. 10.

    To ensure that studies met minimum standards of research quality and included sufficient information on one election, a set of pre-screening questions was applied while reading the final set of 99 eligible cases, for example: “Does the study list the main candidates and parties competing for power in the election and summarize their basic ideological positions?” “Are the rules governing elections and campaigns described in some detail?” “Are the results of and differences between previous and current elections discussed?” Two studies analyzed multiple elections but provided sufficient depth for at least one election to qualify as a case study (Sweet 1998; Wilmot 1982). Three studies focused explicitly on the role of a radical group or ideology in one or more elections (de la Calle and Sánchez-Cuenca 2012; Lawoti 2008a; Sweet 1998; Wilson 1997) but were retained since the search strategy did not identify them in advance.

  11. 11.

    Meta-ethnography methods have been applied to samples as small as two to as many as 77, with the seminal literature recommending no more than about 40 cases. After screening references and skimming for quality and initial coding of basic information for all 99 studies, a sample of 41 cases was selected on this basis, and also because it was feasible to summarize the findings in tables that fit on one page (Toye et al. 2014).

  12. 12.

    Discussion of quantities in interpretation of tables is meant to aid identification of common themes, but should not be taken as statistically valid generalizations.

  13. 13.

    This coding decision has its origin in the concept of “coalition potential”, introduced by Sartori as a method of designating parties as extreme or irrelevant in a particular environment, which has spurred a voluminous literature on anti-system and extreme parties in Europe (Sartori 1976; c.f. Capoccia 2002).

  14. 14.

    Party acronyms are not defined because the specifics of any particular case are not the focus of the analysis.

  15. 15.

    Whether violence was lethal or not is based on the intention of lethality implied by the tactics used, not whether or not people actually died. For example, if a radical shoots a gun at someone and misses, he is still using lethal violence.

  16. 16.

    Reasons that violent radical groups may refrain from violence in electoral contexts not mentioned in the studies could include heightened security measures during elections, a diminished likelihood of media coverage of attacks in an environment saturated with stories of interest to journalists, or a desire to support any moves toward democratization that might increase the probability of competing directly in the future.

  17. 17.

    Other reasons that radicals might use more violence than usual during elections could include the desire to discredit the credibility of the governing party and/or the election process and government system as a whole and to take advantage of heightened availability of potential targets in the electoral environment.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Go Zone Sweden initiative, Göteborg, Sweden

    Megan Reif Dyfvermark

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  1. Megan Reif Dyfvermark
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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Global Political Studies, Malmö University, Malmö, Sweden

    Kristian Steiner

  2. Department of Literature, History of Ideas & Religion, University of Gothenburg, Gothenburg, Sweden

    Andreas Önnerfors

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Dyfvermark, M.R. (2018). Contexts of Radicalization: An Inductive Meta-Analysis of 41 Case Studies of Contentious Elections. In: Steiner, K., Önnerfors, A. (eds) Expressions of Radicalization. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-65566-6_8

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