| Publication |
2009.
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| Summary/Abstract |
Violence is one of a range of tactics available to social movements. The important question is not whether violence is a tactic, but why certain groups within particular social movements choose a violent path. Using the cycle of protest model this study maps the progression from localized protest to armed group in a case study of the Niger Delta People's Volunteer Force. The case study demonstrates how an armed group emerges from a broader social movement, what influences this evolution, and what enables the armed group to sustain itself when facing significantly higher costs for survival. For the Niger Delta People's Volunteer Force, competition for scarce resources, its ideology justifying an aggressive posture toward government, and its capacity to mobilize necessary resources to engage in a violent struggle with the government all played significant roles in the emergence and survival of the group
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