Provocation or Excuse?: Process-Tracing the Impact of Elite Propaganda in a Violent Conflict in Indonesia.

Why people follow the incitement of powerful individuals to participate in collective violence remains one of the most intriguing questions in the study of conflict. By using process-tracing to analyze in detail a violent ethno-religious conflict in Indonesia, this study concludes that rioters are often not provoked by elite propaganda but rather are acting out of their own interest. However, their violence sets off a chain of events that causes large-scale communal conflict. This escalation is most likely in the presence of three causal mechanisms: the immobilization of local security forces; widespread sentiments of sympathy for innocent victims; and the creation of intense feelings of insecurity. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]