Abstract

Democratic backsliding, increased great power competition, hate speech and violence, mass atrocities and genocides, civil wars, revolution and counter-revolution, reactionary movements against women’s and minority rights, advancements in surveillance, censorship, policing technologies, war—the 21st century has become increasingly repressive and dangerous for political participation across the globe. At the same time, there has been increased protest and a proliferation of resistance movements. This seeming paradox has raised many questions among publics, academics, and policy makers, including: What motivates people to resist at the risk of their lives and livelihoods? What actions do people choose in order to resist and why, and when do resistance strategies change? What causes people to come together or fall out over whether and how to resist? When and why does resistance under repressive conditions escalate or fade away? This edited volume presents our current state of knowledge as well as new research and theorizing on these questions about the psychology of resistance in violent and repressive contexts. The chapters in this volume represent a broad range of diverse contexts, and contemporary as well as historical experiences of repression, violence, and resistance in Africa, Asia, Europe, and South America—from cyberwars to civil wars, from police and state repression to pogroms and genocide. Taken together, this volume highlights the importance of considering the socio-political and historical contexts of resistance, the heterogeneity and complexity of psychological paths to resistance, and the variety of strategies people adopt to enact resistance to violence and repression.