Repression, Conflict and Trust

Workshop

Trust can grow in and through conflict – this is the main research hypothesis of ConTrust that the workshop likes to discuss for conflicts that involve state repression. When does repression create trust in state actors, when does it destroy it? What are broader trust dynamics in regard to in- and outgroup trust as well as social trust more general? In order to break new ground, the workshop brings together experts on two sub-fields of repression research: the repression-mobilization nexus and police violence.
The sub-fields of repression research have both seen a trend towards disaggregation of actors, leading to more sophisticated, fine-grained analyses of developments also beyond the national level, i.e. including the trans- and sub-national as well as the local level. Furthermore, temporal and spatial dimensions of repression have been developed further. These research trends allow for a deeper understanding of how repression has transformed over time. They also match the conceptual understanding of trust within the ConTrust research initiative that builds on a relational approach to trust and on trust building based on experiences and learning processes.
Considering repression as a particular context of trust relations, the workshop aims are therefore threefold: first, to enrich the ConTrust working group on coercion with the cutting-edge research on repression, and second, to assess what we know about trust dynamics in contexts of state repression. Third, we aim at developing a truly comparative research agenda on repression, trust and conflict by bringing together contributions that cover several world regions and different political regime types.

Conveners: Irene Weipert-Fenner & Jonas Wolff

Please register in advance until May 20th with Franziska Kasten kasten@soz.uni-frankfurt.de

Programm (pdf): Click here…