Citation

Bartusevičius H, van Leeuwen F, Petersen MB. R. Soc. Open Sci. 2023; 10(6): e221227.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2023, Royal Society Publishing)

DOI

10.1098/rsos.221227

PMID

37325594

PMCID

PMC10265031

Abstract

We examined whether political repression deters citizens from engaging in anti-government behaviour (its intended goal) or in fact motivates it. Analyses of 101 nationally representative samples from three continents (N = 139 266) revealed a positive association between perceived levels of repression and intentions to engage in anti-government violence. Additional analyses of fine-grained data from three countries characterized by widespread repression and anti-government violence (N = 2960) identified a positive association between personal experience with repression and intentions to engage in anti-government violence. Randomized experiments revealed that thoughts about repression also motivate participation in anti-government violence. These results suggest that political repression, aside from being normatively abhorrent, motivates anti-repressor violence.

Language: en

Keywords

aggression; political violence; human rights; anti-government protest; collective action; repression