Sample Dissertation on International Violence

Evidence for cause

Riots are societal natural disasters.  The comparison is apt both for the damage caused by riots and the suddenness of their occurrence.  Rioting is not the only kind of collective violence, but it is the purest and most significant variety,

“Among the various forms of violence, riots deserve particular attention not only because they threaten the physical and psychological well-being of large masses of individuals, but also because their very nature may sabotage the formal and informal systems of intervention that reduce the risk of trauma” (Swendsen, 1998, p. 58).  

There are many reasons for collective violence and each of those potential factors warrant close study in the established paradigm of social identity theory to better understand their sources and possible solutions.  Marginalization of population groups occurs in the following manners:

• Ethnically
• Culturally
• Socioeconomically

Though these categories represent only the most simplified causes of collective violence, each informs the specific incidents that will be examined and solutions for each will be addressed.  It will also be shown that simple tension, even of the most fundamental and pervasive variety, is not enough to induce collective violence, and the situation interaction sequences that are responsible for turning potential violence into actual rioting will be examined in each example situation.

The Nature and root cause of collective violence

By necessity, riots tend to happen in densely populated areas.  A natural issue in an urban area is access to basic resources; demand is high and supply, especially of things like food that have to come from outside the city, is limited.  Duprez (2009) observed that a primary cause of population tension in urban environment is inequality of access to:

• Goods
• Services
• Jobs 

Social identity theory would dictate that such an environment would create a dangerously concentrated group with the shared identifier of poverty and deprivation and the collective intention of correcting this issue.  Extreme disparities of wealth and access to resources is a common cause of collective violence, but an ethnic component has been observed within these socioeconomic conflicts as well (Duprez, 2009).  If social identity theory is applied to this observation, it would suggest that the socioeconomically oppressed group is internally splintered along ethnic or cultural lines.  This could be a result of a lack of understanding about the causes of financial difficulties, or it could be an example of choosing the closest group with any discernible difference as an object for hostility.

Scapegoating ethnicities

Whatever the exact reason, there are many precedents for race-based riots.  Socioeconomic difficulties might be considered second fiddle to the more visceral conflict of ethnic diversity.  Individuals obviously realize they are suffering from poverty and deprivation, but they might be more inclined to blame a visible, close-proximity group than some abstract group higher up the socioeconomic chain.  Population groups in areas with heavy immigration have been observed to react defensively toward whatever ethnic group is newest to the area (Bergesen, 1998).  When this process of ethnic succession occurs rapidly, tensions run high as ever more newcomers confuse the lines of who ‘belongs’ versus who is an ‘invader’.

The trail of ethnic succession can be clearly seen throughout history and touches virtually every ethnic group:

• The Irish suffered at the hands of collective violence when they stepped off the boats from Ireland in the 1840s
• Immigrants from every corner of Europe experienced the same at the turn of the century
• Blacks moving out of the South faced it in the early 20th century
• Mexican immigrants throughout history
• The most recent victims are Latino and Asian immigrants (Bergesen, 1998).  

Despite each group having to endure prejudice and violence, each group also joins in persecuting the next ethnic group to immigrate, perpetuating the cycle of violent ethnic succession.  Mawanda Shaban, a member of the Uganda Red Cross Society’s Youth Commission, observed the division caused by ethnic succession in terms of age as well,

“it is a fact that when you talk about violence, even when you talk about migration, you cannot separate it from the youth… the major challenge is definitely lack of integration within society” (Harroff-Tavel, 2010, p. 348).  

This particular perspective, in the context of social identity theory, would suggest that individuals seek ever more specialized groups within groups, even if the existing structure already provides a group with which to align against perceived opponents.

Journalism as a modern contributors to collective violence

There are modern factors that serve both sides of the collective violence issue.  Technology, particularly information technology, is a powerful tool in the formation and management of group identities.  Journalism in the 21st century is a virtually omnipresent component of group dynamics, especially when potential or actual cases of collective violence are concerned.  Greer (2010) derived the role of journalism in issues of collective violence to three points:

• The capacity of technologically empowered citizen journalists to produce information that challenges the ‘official’ version of events
• The inclination of professional and citizen journalists to actively seek out and use that information
• The existence of an information-communications marketplace that sustains the commodification and mass consumption of adversarial, anti-establishment news. (p. 1041)

This suggests that journalism is largely antagonistic to peace, due to a hybrid of blatant contrariness and commodification of dissent.  

Civilian journalism

The inclusion of civilian journalism, rather than strictly professional, results in greater accountability if those civilian journalists are honest, but runs the risk of creating more conflict if civilian journalists only endeavor to rabble-rouse and corner tragedy.  In terms of social identity theory, civilian journalists are particularly influential because they are already part of the common social groups rather than some abstract voice with nationally syndicated byline.  The intent of a civilian journalist is assumed to be in keeping with the intent of his or her social group, and the powerful identity of a journalist, even a civilian journalist, makes his or her intent far more effective at establishing group intent.

Group predisposition toward nonviolence

No single force is powerful enough to precipitate collective violence.  All these stressing influences come together to create tense situations, but even when oppressed social groups are pushed to publicly act out against their oppressors, violence is seldom the first resort.  Most people are disinclined to take that step purely because of ongoing effects, partly because the nature of an ongoing effect is that it can be adapted to.  There is indeed a threshold that is crossed:

Since most societies provide different normative disaffirmations regarding different types of violence, the inhibition threshold for using physical violence against persons is usually higher than the inhibition threshold for using symbolical violence or violence against objects.  Hence, I claim that the emergence of physical violence is even more unlikely and therefore particularly interesting. (Nassauer, 2011, p. 204)

Groups are more inclined to act out in nonviolent ways such as social activisim, for the most part, since it takes a particularly extreme behavioral shift to act violently toward another person, or for individuals to risk violence to themselves.  

Predicting collective violence in groups

Social identity theory can be used to determine the likelihood of a group to act with cohesive intent or fall apart in the face of certain interactional sequences, particularly those of opposition.  The strength of shared identity directly affects the likelihood of collective violence, as suggested by Smith (2007) who argued that a group’s intention are more likely to be acted out based on how many members share those intentions.  While socioeconomic or ethnic factors might create a high-stress environment, inclined toward violent outbreak and crime, a specific inciting incident--one with intense emotional impact, is required in each specific case to cause the actors to abandon their inhibitions (Nassauer, 2011).  Close examination of these interactional sequences on a case by case base can provide insights into what measures might help prevent tense situations from exploding into violence. This theoretical basis is cohesive with the specific example of a group defending itself against attacks on its members, physically or against their rights (Drury, 2003).  Such attacks, when occurring directly against the group, are an example of the kind of interactional sequences that incite collective violence in response to immediate outrages.

Examining examples of collective violence

Because riots are so complex in cause and because the inciting interactional sequence is so critical, it is best to consider specific cases before positing a solution.  Social identity theory has provided an adequate framework for describing how discontented social groups form and how extreme behaviors are justified by those groups.  The existence of interactional sequences as trigger events has been established, but the only way to specifically describe such events is to examine specific situations.  Particular focus will be given to ethnic conflicts and tension caused by immigration, to emphasize the international relations aspect of such outbreaks. Race riots in the United States, particularly those between the black and white population, are only distantly considered an international relations issue.  Rather than being caused by international tension, the possible solutions might be taken from entities more successful at integrating diverse ethnic and cultural groups.  Multinational businesses in particular have demonstrated proficiency with this issue and will be discussed further in the solutions section to follow.

Los Angeles

A popularly cited example of rioting in the United States is the 1992 Los Angeles Riots.  The central complaint of the issue was police brutality, specifically the treatment of Rodney King, which has only escalated as evidenced by the number of racially motivated police shootings documented in 2016.  King was in a car pulled over after a high speed pursuit and, instead of being subdued and arrested, was tasered and beaten by four police officers.  The encounter was videotaped from a nearby apartment by George Holiday.  This videotape and extensive media coverage of the hearings for the policemen drew the entire city into the situation.  The police officers were acquitted, a decision that incited protests at the courthouse and gatherings throughout the city, including LAPD headquarters.  Roughly three and a half hours after the announcement of the officers’ acquittal, the protests accelerated to a riot.  The police proved unable to subdue the riots and the collective violence continued for four days until the military arrived and the rioters dispersed.

Impact of the riots on the city of Los Angeles

The riots caused significant economic damage in light of highly ethnic matters:  

• Over a billion dollars in damage was done to the city
• 53 people were killed
• 2,300 people were injured
• 1,000 buildings were burned
• The Los Angeles economy suffered an estimated setback of over $8 billion, from which it has not yet fully recovered (Petersilia, 1993).  

The lingering material cost is only a shadow of the persistent racial tension.  Petersilia (1993) considered it evident that the conditions of ethnic and socioeconomic division that spawned the riots continued to prevail.  The Rodney King incident was merely the interactional event that ignited the riots.  If it were the sole source of the collective violence outbreak, the rioters would have been simply black people versus police, or possibly versus the socioeconomic class protected by the police.  But other ethnic groups, most notably Latinos, also made use of the riots to vent their frustrations with society, proving the extent of the ethnic tension.  As one of the most fundamentally diverse cities in the United States, it would seem evident that Los Angeles should be more flawlessly integrated, but tensions from immigration and basic ethnic contrast persist as delineators of social acceptance.

The Cincinnati Riots of 2001

A more recent example of race riots in the United States began with protests against the CPD in response to a number of police shootings in which black males were killed.  Timothy Thomas, unarmed, was the 15th such black man to be killed by police and, a few short days after his death, thousands of black Cincinnati citizens marched on the District 1 headquarters of the CPD.  The first march on CPD headquarters and a smaller, subsequent protest were dispersed with bean bag guns and tear gas which only incited the population to further violence, escalating the situation to full-blown riots.  Over the next couple days the violence spread and the city succumbed to fear and disruption.  The Cincinnati mayor, however, managed to end the riots without military intervention.  

He instituted a curfew on the third night, an act that was accompanied by heavy rains (Waymer, 2009).  This course of evidence demonstrates in impact of racism in America since the only recourse the black social group had to protect themselves was collective violence.  The killing of an unarmed black man served as the trigger incident and the violence diffused throughout the city. In light of mentioning these events again within an ethnic context, one can see that they are truly a product of the clear disparities that distinguish natives from the perceived aliens.

The 2005 Civil Unrest in France

This event was an example of both ethnic and age discrimination.  Young French-Africans and French Maghrebians in Paris and other French cities were, at the time, treated as second-class citizens by the police.  It was common at the time for such youths to be:

• Detained on sight
• Questioned for no purpose
• Held with no cause until their parents came to collect them (Schneider, 2008).  

It was natural that this treatment would cause the youths to avoid the police at all costs, and in the case of the inciting incident for the 2005 French riots, a handful of young men took refuge in a highly dangerous power station.  A recording of one of the officers’ conversation with dispatch on the scene culminated in the officer determining,

“if they entered the EDF site, their skin is worth nothing now” (Schneider, 2008, p. 136). 

Such cold disregard for young life was not the only option, a call to the power company could have made the extraction safe and easy, but instead the police simply walked away and two boys were fatally electrocuted, a third severely injured but survived.

Escalation due to indifference

When the police refused to show any remorse or sense of responsibility toward this incident, the population became outraged. Again it became evident to the marginalized social group of immigrant French residents, who were denied many of the rights and goodwill of conventional French citizens, that extreme action would be needed to effect a change.  The needless death of two young men was a sufficient catalyzing agent to spark collective violence.  Rioting continued for nearly a month before a state of emergency was declared, which persisted for another month before order was restored (Schneider, 2008).  These events called into question the French citizenship policy and proved that young people were no more willing to tolerate injustice than adults.

The 2005 Cronulla Riots

This demonstrates the dangers of media influence in already tense situations.  A series of violent attacks against Australian locals in New South Wales by ‘young men of ‘Middle Eastern Appearance’ resulted in originally peaceful but ultimately alcohol fueled violent outbursts against anyone of Middle Eastern appearance (Poynting, 2006, p. 85).  The media exercised its influence upon the intentions of social groups.  Combined with the aggressive journalism was a general misunderstanding of the offending social group.  Instead of targeting any legitimate descriptor, it was simply determined that anyone of Middle Eastern appearance was an enemy.  These riots in particular, which still resonate through Australia today, demonstrate the power of the press to create the kind of stressful atmosphere in which a virtually random inciting incident, like the assault of the volunteer life-savers, can serve as the trigger to an unjustified race war.

The need to learn from past events to avoid future violence

The ingredients for outbreaks of collective violence are easy to see, in a general sense.  But it is not always obvious how far a social group will allow itself to be pushed or when exactly the triggering incident will occur.  As a study in international relations, it is important to learn from the choices made throughout the world.  These examples demonstrate the kinds of interactional environments that create marginalized groups as well as help understand the history a particular immigrant population might have regarding collective violence.

Viable Short and Long-term Solutions

Solving the rioting problem through the lens of international relations is a daunting task that requires adherence to many complex dimensions of how society, businesses and governments work. While riots are largely a domestic issue, we have clearly seen that international relations do play an integral role in terms of how the riots are dealt with and what is the root cause of them. Unfortunately, the sheer complexity of riots make it difficult for one to merely appropriate a one-size-fits-all solution. Because they have to be analyzed on a case by case basis, the solution also needs to be in much the same way. However, many core practices by governments, businesses and third parties can be used to alleviate the issue for the long haul. Both short and long term solutions will be presented. 

Methods for Immediate Action

While it is advantageous to stop rioting before it happens through preventive measures, this is not always a luxury and governments need to have the right tools and skill sets in order to combat an immediate crisis. This is known as conflict resolution and conflict management. The means by which governments approach this can drastically affect whether the dispute will end peacefully or only create further dissent and violence across the globe. Molly Melin (2011) argued that state relationships play an integral role in how conflict management occurs in the short term.

Immediate response

The general consensus is that acting quickly is the first step in prompt resolution. Quickly resolving riots requires:

• A keen understanding of the people
• Knowing the goals and intentions of the people
• An effective approach the goal of social cohesion

Indeed, Melin (2011) argued that agencies and governments that act swiftly tend to increase the success rate of resolution, versus waiting longer and letting it play out:

“The longer a conflict goes on, the less likely management is to occur” (p. 710).

As a largely overlooked aspect of social phenomenons like riots, we have seen that many governments fail to move quickly and intervene. Being able to act quickly and deploy resources is essential because it shows an active incentive on behalf of the government to resolve issues. This is incredibly important because when riots are televised internationally, other political leaders are looking closely to see what the governing body is doing, and how they are treating the minority that is speaking out. As the world looks on governing nations to avoid bloodshed and employing racial profiling, any sort of injustice is glorified intensely. As a result, it is important that the government not only acts quickly, but also takes into account the parties involved in order to remain as neutral and non-discriminatory as possible. 

Balance in response to violence

While it may be contradictory in a sense to advocate for quick resolutions while making informed positions, there is surely a balance between acting quickly while still making informed decisions that will not seem biased or too forward. For example, it is largely important to “Examine and keenly analyze the goals of the parties” involved (Melin, 2011, p. 692). This falls in line with social identity theory because it is important to characterize the emotional affect of the group and realize what are the core tensions at hand. Theodore Lewis (2011) argues that:

• Understanding a groups’ emotional commitment is instrumental in determining their social identity.
• Mitigating a riot requires the government to have the tools and resources necessary to understand the rioters identities and tensions from a very first-hand perspective.
• The government must understand the cross-cultural context of how ethnic and racial factors play.

To exemplify, riots in Los Angeles were rooted in the racial tensions of Mexican-Americans that were displacing Americans in common manual labor jobs. An effective root cause analysis would have been to induce that the problems are:

• International in scope
• Economically related
• Subject to the criticism of nativist responses

While the United States government had to address the needs of American citizens first, it would have been much more probative to understand the barriers of social cohesion as it related to the Mexican government. Furthermore, given that Mexican populations in the southwest are afraid of police intervention due to criminalization, the government should seek to better understand this alienation and address it on a national, not state, level (Gonzales & Portillos, 2007). A cohesive effort between the United States and Mexican governments would have shown that broader social concerns are being discussed and the resolution measures include the values and needs of the minority that is being violent or oppressed. 

International perspective

The efficacy of such a solution is rooted in the notion that social cohesion is understood and analyzed from an international perspective. Melin (2011) argued that governments that can avoid bias in their immediate responses can be much more effective. For instance, because

“biased third parties are quick to offer management services and to employ economic and diplomatic techniques,” they lack the true understanding of the group’s social identity in approaching conflict resolution (Melin, 2011, p. 711).

In taking a much more analytical and thoughtful approach that fosters international coordination, it generates a greater sense of accountability among the parties involved. Furthermore, the social cohesion of governments working together has the capacity to trickle down to the rioters because the same group they are associated with has either condoned their violence or supported their adherence towards civil resolution. Ultimately, solving short term issues such as riots can be much more effective if governments act quickly, engage in discourse with the minority based government and engage in proactively gaining an understanding of what the root cause of the schism was. 

The issue of excessive police force and violence

A much more involved and proactive government would surely solve the most troubling problem regarding riots: police brutality and their inability to stop them effectively. As we read earlier, governments such as Greece and others have been accustomed to using seriously harsh methods to contain violence (Haddad & Balz, 2006). However, with a proactive government that asserts federal authority and backing to fight violence with vigor, the riots can be stopped before escalating further. Indeed, by quickly and efficiently using the government’s backing to quell resistors, rioters will be much more likely to cease. Because most riot squads, like those in Greece, fail on the basis of a

“discredited [and] inefficient police force,” a federally backed force with clear goals and intentions would be much more likely to succeed (Close, 2009, p. 134).

Also, rather than encouraging passivity of the police force, governments and politicians should voice their open support to stopping riots (Close, 2009). This would not only induce better training and reduce police fears, but it would also ensure the police force that the government would take more accountability over the results, not just the individuals. 

Long-term Preventative Measures

Combating rioting on a long term basis requires the complex interplay of

• Governments
• Multinational businesses
• Future generations

The government has its place in fostering legislative policies that are progressive in terms of defining what potential issues are and then addressing them before they happen. Increased police training has recently been cited as a solution for violence particularly in the case Cleveland which was required to retrain its police force. The government has to take a much more proactive role in being a ‘playmaker’ rather than sidelining themselves; consequently, the government can foster resolution rather than letting individual states and the mass media pervert issues that are international in scope and complexity. Multinational businesses play an integral role in long term riot prevention because many issues are rooted in economic dimensions that include politics, finance immigration and workplace tensions. Lastly, the longevity of peaceful discourse rather than rioting requires that future generations engage in much more cohesive interactions where their social identities are not segregated based on shared oppression, discrimination or schism. 

Government

They federal government should play an interactive role in displacing the media and states from rioting issues because these smaller institutions may lack the resources or incentive to foster positive resolution. For instance, the government in the United States has been the paradigm of delayed action and negligence with regards to responding effectively. When conjuring immigration policies, the government should see this as a potential threat to social cohesion where immigrants can feel alienated and subject to oppression and one of the challenges in creating immigration policy. Thomas Brezenski (2011) strongly suggested that the federal government’s inability to realize the implications of their immigration laws have been a precursor to social tensions in the United States. To exemplify, illegal immigration laws are a direct example of how legislative foresight could stop future rioting. In discussing laws that socially alienate and target illegal immigrants, Brezenski (2011) argued that:

“Proponents of these laws make the argument that the federal government’s illegal immigration efforts have been woefully inadequate, and the states have no choice but to step into what up until now had been exclusive federal territory” (p. 26).

A government’s ability to intervene and make clear, non-biased policies would have also helped in troubling areas like France, which has a track record of indifference (Haddad & Balz, 2006). Clearly, the federal government would have much more leverage, domestically and internationally, to create favorable legislation in order to prevent rioting from happening because of it. Again, the key emphasis is that interaction among the relevant governments is open and inclusive so that each party’s values and needs are carefully analyzed prior to making disruptive legislation. In displacing the state and taking a broader approach, governments can work together in order to foster policies that are preventative by design, not by reaction. 

Regulating the media

Government intervention is also pivotal because they can displace and alleviate the destructive nature of the mass media in terms of social cohesion. France has been a strong case study relating to how the government’s inaction can lead to more tension. Ossman and Terrio (2006) cited that

“public fears fanned by the media and politicians linked egregious and unrepresentative acts of physical violence such as gang rapes, honour killings, revenge murders, orgratuitous attacks to what had become identified as ‘immigrant’ projects” (p. 8).

The media’s role has been pivotal in enticing negative relations and fostering further violence by generalizing the delinquents as being a group that is wholly responsible, rather than just the perpetrators themselves. However, if the government would have taken proactive steps towards controlling the media’s message by way of stronger social outreach, the media would have to succumb to a federal initiative. Another example where the media’s message could have been at least diluted to cause less schism is the Haitian AIDS stigma where a blood ban was being actively discussed.

Multinational business

Given the international scope and prominence of multinational businesses prevention of violence becomes one of the corporate social responsibilities. Stopping riots before they happen can come through fostering stronger social cohesion in workplaces, especially where tensions can become climatic. As discussed, ethnic diversity is a major precursor to rioting within all spheres of society. However, this is especially true when it comes to workplace environments. Moreover, scholars like Mary McEnrue (1993) have argued that taking coordinated steps to address workplace diversity on international levels can avert crises before they occur (p. 20). The first step is understanding measurement and analysis of how diverse a workplace is and what are the values and needs of the minority groups. Consequently, the most successful companies that avoid riots and issues are those that employ special coordination groups that interact closely with human resources and top management (McEnrue, 1993, p. 24). This surely helps address the socioeconomic precursors of riots because the negative perceptions of different ethnic groups as being segregated is topped by a sense of unity and cohesion. 

Diffusing racial tension in the workplace

As mentioned, riots have been heavily attributed to racial and ethnic tensions among groups. This is heavily rooted in the sphere of socioeconomics and international relations because international companies have to deal with a diverse workforce that may not have shared values. However, preventing riots for the long-haul will require a serious focus on:

• Group dynamics
• Undermining the role of racial issues
• Emphasizing group cohesion and creating positive company culture (Lewis, 2011)

While the workplace is only one of many environments that can be a catalyst for rioting, the attitudes and behaviors that workers gain through their employer undoubtedly carry over into their personal lives. Consequently, as companies foster the notion of collective efficacy, or

“the shared belief of team members in the team’s capacity to accomplish a task,”

workers will experience much less oppression and discrimination in the workplace, and eventually society in general (Lewis, 2011, p. 973). By having big corporations target diversity issues as a core tenet of their practices, group solidarity would serve as a strong example of a true melting pot where behavior like rioting is not condoned because it denotes individualistic and selfish behavior. While rioting as a whole would not be eradicated, it would surely be mitigated. Such long term drastic measures to reduce workplace socioeconomic tensions encompasses a broad scope yet heavily endorses a company’s incentive to be proactive, accountable and productive, while reducing rioting. 

The importance of future generations for preventing violence

Finally, a strong long term strategy for preventing rioting is to develop an ethos of social cohesion among the social groups where rioting is a cultural inherency. By educating youths and future generations to avoid such behaviors, their children will adopt similar attitudes that will work towards adopting a new culture that condones such behavior. As a result, a strong approach would look to target youths in order to educate them about the negative implications of rioting. This domestic approach would surely transcend national borders because other cultures use rioting more than others. To exemplify, Marion Harroff-Tavel argued that youths are the most vital demographic to target in terms of mitigating violence: 

Not only is violence not the preserve of the young – they are often perpetrators but they are also often the victims – but integration of young people, women and different ethnic, religious, and cultural groups into the community is a very effective way of preventing violence. (Harroff-Tavel, 2010, p. 348).

The enactment of social cohesion must come at the hands of institutions and individuals that have exposure to youths and who can influence them directly.

Encouraging change over time to combat violent tendencies

In comparison to troubled nations like France, this approach has been shown to work in Germany where Turkish youths were the emphasis of social policies where youths were encouraged to have a political voice rather than succumbing to violence (Loch, 2009, p. 810). Therefore, such efforts would reduce the enticement that youths may have to engage in rioting as a whole. Especially on a cross-cultural context, a standard decorum of dealing with social angst would include civil means, not violence. Moreover, nations that develop a strong culture of tolerance and peace would effectively change the models that they have previously carried throughout history. New notions of cultural and national solidarity in France would surely require a

“radical departure from the current and historical French immigration and assimilation policies” (Haddad & Balz, 2006, p. 30).

However, with an involved government that stresses social unity and cohesion as a national goal, people would change the way they think over time. This change would result in much different attitudes towards the efficacy of rioting, especially when other alternative measures exist that are civil. From a social identity theory standpoint, better governmental practices not to alienate people would reduce the shared emotional suffering they have, and thus undermine the perception of their membership in an oppressed group (Thomas, 2011). 

Discussion

As we have seen, riots have been extremely costly for nations and individuals as groups engaging in collective action have caused extensive and expensive damage while endangering thousands of lives. Other scholars have noted that civil unrest heavily stems from ethnic tensions that carry over into the second and third generation of immigrants. This places an astounding amount of pressure on governments to engage in behaviors that encourage social cohesion; however, not only do many governments neglect the needs of immigrants and minorities, but many only further antagonize them by solidifying their identity as an oppressed group of society. 

Social identity as a key factor in understanding collective violence

In addressing the root causes and viable solutions for rioting, we addressed that social identity theory is an appropriate theoretical framework. This theory posited that marginalization and conflict in society stems from shared feelings of oppression where individuals are more likely to align with their own group, even if that means resorting to violence. Social identity theory also expressed that a broader group identity is heavily influential in defining the actions, attitudes and behaviors of the individuals. Ultimately, because individuals have to alter their identities much less to fit into their own social group, they are more inclined to follow suit when the group engages in actions that may go against their own personal beliefs. This theory was used to rationalize the root causes of social violence through rioting. 

Root causes of riots revisited

The root causes of rioting were attributed to not only ethnic differences, but also socioeconomic disparities. Because some groups have much less access to resources in order to prosper in society, it causes schism as one group feels disadvantaged. This is especially true for youths, the same youths who often times are the victims and perpetrators of riots. These disparities are also glorified and worsened by the overwhelming influence that the mass media has. Numerous examples of the media’s undue influence with regard to violence were cited. Finally, police brutality was cited as being largely responsible for worsening conditions as a whole.

Summary of solutions

The solutions were then presented twofold: short and long term. The main solution posited that governments needed to take a much more proactive role in working towards social cohesion. State relationships are integral in managing immediate conflicts when it comes to short term resolution. Consequently, governments should look to understand rioters as a group identity that is sharing a common struggle. Moreover, rather than being passive in their undertaking, governments should act swiftly, while still making informed decisions, in order to foster a sense of accountability.  In terms of peaceful discourse, a much more national approach would also require discourse with the representative nation in order to promote an ethos of:

• Understanding
• Seriousness
• Longevity

More government interaction would also alleviate the issue of police brutality and antagonization because more emphasis would be given to training, stronger authority and an alignment of goals between politicians and riot police.