Cookies?
Library Header Image
LSE Research Online LSE Library Services

Antisocial capital: a profile of Rwandan genocide perpetrators’ social networks

McDoom, Omar Shahabudin (2014) Antisocial capital: a profile of Rwandan genocide perpetrators’ social networks. Journal of Conflict Resolution, 58 (5). pp. 866-894. ISSN 1552-8766

[img]
Preview
PDF - Published Version
Download (513kB) | Preview

Identification Number: 10.1177/0022002713484282

Abstract

Although popularly perceived as a positive force, social capital may also produce socially undesirable outcomes. Drawing on Rwanda’s 1994 genocide, this article shows that participation in its violence was partly determined by the features of individuals’ social networks. Perpetrators possessed larger networks in general and more connections to other perpetrators in particular. The quality as well as quantity of connections also mattered. Strong ties generally, and kinship and neighborly ties specifically, were strong predictors of participation. In contrast, possession of countervailing ties to nonparticipants was not significant. In explaining these findings, I suggest participants’ networks fulfilled functions of information diffusion, social influence, and behavioral regulation. The findings point to the importance of social structure and suggest that relational data should complement individual attribute data in predicting participation in collective violence.

Item Type: Article
Official URL: http://jcr.sagepub.com/
Additional Information: © 2013 The Author
Divisions: Government
Subjects: H Social Sciences > H Social Sciences (General)
J Political Science > JA Political science (General)
Date Deposited: 28 Jan 2013 13:49
Last Modified: 06 Jan 2024 21:09
URI: http://eprints.lse.ac.uk/id/eprint/48117

Actions (login required)

View Item View Item

Downloads

Downloads per month over past year

View more statistics