Research framework and broader academic knowledge base
Serbia: documented application of the same framework
Why are only a few people punished at times, while an entire group is targeted at others?
The government chooses the extent of punishment according to the information it has, the type of threat and the political price. If it knows who organizes others, punishing a few visible people can scare a much wider circle with less public resistance. Such a precise punishment also preserves the possibility that the government claims that the problem is not political.
When he does not know who is crucial, when he wants to break ties within the entire community or to send a collective message, the pressure becomes wider and affects family members, the workplace, the settlement or the entire organization. A wide punishment can be effective, but also more expensive because it creates more victims and possible allies of resistance. Therefore, the case should be described specifically: who was affected, what measure, at what point and whether the goal is to isolate the organizers or punish the affiliation of the group.
The boundaries between these types of punishment are not harsh. Each case should be described according to who was hit, when, what and to what extent.
Works supporting this answer, with their evidence type and an explanation of how they relate to the claim.
review more research
Davenport, C. (2007), „State Repression and Political Order“, Annual Review of Political Science 10: 1–23.
- Contribution to this answer
- Davenport shows that repression is not an automatic reaction to any opposition: the government assesses the political threat, its own capabilities and the price of different responses. That is why the intensity of repression varies, but his review shows more how complex the choice is than one rule gives, which determines in advance who the target will be.
data from a large number of countries
Bhasin, T. i Gandhi, J. (2013), „Timing and Targeting of State Repression in Authoritarian Elections“, Electoral Studies 32(4): 620–631.
- Contribution to this answer
- Bhasin and Gandhi show very clearly that the government chooses who and when to repress. Before the authoritarian elections, it strikes more often opposition leaders and activists who directly threaten its result, while sparing ordinary voters whose votes and appearance of legitimacy are still needed; the pressure on citizens grows more easily after the elections.
Explain how the system works
Ritter, E. H. i Conrad, C. R. (2016), „Preventing and Responding to Dissent: The Observational Challenges of Explaining Strategic Repression“, American Political Science Review 110(1): 85–99.
- Contribution to this answer
- Ritter and Conrad show that targeting also depends on what the authorities did before the opposition became visible. Preventive repression is already “filtering” part of potential opponents, so the people we see protesting are not a random pattern they are often the ones that earlier obstacles failed to stop.
review more research
Earl, J. (2003), „Tanks, Tear Gas, and Taxes: Toward a Theory of Movement Repression“, Sociological Theory 21(1): 44–68.
- Contribution to this answer
- Earl shows that the question of “whom the government is repressing” cannot be separated from what kind of repression it uses: different measures can be directed at an individual, an organization or a wider movement and can come from the state or other actors. For just explaining why a narrow or broad target is chosen, however, work is more a conceptual framework than a direct answer.
comparing several countries or cases
Greitens, S. C. (2016), Dictators and Their Secret Police: Coercive Institutions and State Violence, Cambridge University Press.
- Contribution to this answer
- Greitens shows that the extent of repression also depends on what kind of apparatus the government has made. Better information services can more easily identify specific opponents and use targeted repression; a fragmented apparatus designed primarily to prevent a coup has weaker information and incentives that can lead to wider and less selective violence.
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