Mobilizing civilians into high-risk forms of violent collective action
| Published date | 01 May 2020 |
| Author | Vera Mironova,Sam Whitt |
| Date | 01 May 2020 |
| DOI | 10.1177/0022343319856043 |
| Subject Matter | Regular Articles |
Mobilizing civilians into high-risk forms
of violent collective action
Vera Mironova
Economics Department, Harvard University
Sam Whitt
Department of Political Science, High Point University
Abstract
We consider whether prior political activism increases the likelihood of engaging in higher-risk forms of violent
collective action. We test our hypothesis in the context of the 2014 Euromaidan and subsequent separatist violence
in Eastern Ukraine. In the aftermath of the Euromaidan protests, the Ukrainian government began a widespread
campaign to mobilize young men for military service against separatist movements in the Donbas region amid
escalating tensions with Russia. In July 2014, we survey young men who were volunteering to join the Ukrainian
military’s counterinsurgency efforts and compare them to other young men who live in the same community but had
not volunteered. Using a case control study design, we interviewed 100 young men who reported to a local Ukrainian
army recruitment station in Kharkiv, a city in Eastern Ukraine which was an important center for military recruit-
ment efforts. We compared them to 100 other young men who lived in the same communities, received recruitment
notices, but had chosen not to report. Military recruits were sampled by cluster-sampling at the recruitment station,
with random selection of recruits by cluster. Civilian males were sampled by random route in the vicinity of the
recruitment station. When comparing survey responses between recruits and civilians, we find strong linkages
between prior Euromaidan participation and military mobilization. Our results are robust to controls for parochial
ethnocentrism and mere support for Euromaidan goals. Maidan participation and military mobilization are also
correlated with a strong sense of self-efficacy, optimism, risk tolerance, patriotic nationalism, and feelings of in-group
solidarity with protesters and the military. These correlates illustrate plausible mechanisms for how individuals could
transition to increasingly higher-cost, higher-risk forms of collective action.
Keywords
counterinsurgency, military recruitment, protest activism, social movements, Ukraine Donbas, Ukraine Maidan
Introduction
What compels ordinary civilians to mobilize for vio-
lence? Drawing on the social movement literature (McA-
dam, 1986; McAdam, Tarrow & Tilly, 2001; Tarrow,
2011), we ask whether prior political activism can serve
as a springboard for more high-risk, high-cost forms of
collective action? We conduct our research in the context
of Euromaidan protests and subsequent separatist unrest
in Eastern Ukraine. We examine whether Maidan-
related activism naturally spills over into counterinsur-
gency recruitment. We test our hypothesis about
political activism and military mobilization using a case
control study design where we compare recruits to young
men in the same community who did not enlist. We
conduct surveys of young men who report to a govern-
ment army recruitment station for deployment to the
front against ethnic Russian separatists in the Donbas
region. We find that recruits display elevated Euromai-
dan political activism compared to their non-combatant
Corresponding author:
swhitt@highpoint.edu
Journal of Peace Research
2020, Vol. 57(3) 391–405
ªThe Author(s) 2019
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DOI: 10.1177/0022343319856043
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