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Armed movements are usually analyzed in the context of ongoing conflict, and much of the preceding mobilization and recruitment is often given far less attention. In this article, we assert that this period can be of critical relevance to subsequent movement trajectories. Analysis of the period antecedent to insurgency also facilitates a deeper contextualization of movement actors and their environments. We examine the period of preconflict mobilization for PKK and the FLN/EZLN, two movements of comparable interest due to their successful urban-to-rural transitions. We contend that the establishment of cross-class, locally based constituencies in both cases was critical to their consolidation as armed movements. We discuss the cases in relation to three main parameters: their immediate social environment, the role of the state, and the strategies adopted by the respective movements.

The proliferation of lone-actor terrorist attacks over the past decade has led to a rapidly expanding literature and a subfield of research. However, this research has only to a limited degree been brought into wider discussions on political violence and social movements. In the present article, we take up this synthetic challenge and argue the need to theorize the social and collective dynamics of lone-actor terrorism. The article proposes a novel analytical framework for understanding lone-actor terrorism. We provide a conceptualization that draws attention to the social embeddedness of terrorist lone-actor radicalization and the collective dynamic of lone-actor attacks. Our point of departure is the recurrent finding that lone-actor terrorists are in fact not that alone, and that their attacks tend to cluster in time and space. First, we propose to conceive of lone-actor radicalization as a relational pathway shaped by social ties and interactions with radical milieus/movements. Second, taking inspiration from Charles Tilly's notion of "scattered attacks" as a pattern of dispersed, loosely coordinated collective violence, we suggest three complementary ways of analyzing these processes and their temporal and interactive dynamic. We argue that theorizing the social and collective dynamics of lone-actor political violence is not only about addressing an empirical puzzle (the abundance of social ties; the clustered pattern of violent attacks), but about analytically capturing an entirely different and potentially increasingly relevant logic of violent processes. Thereby, and paradoxically, the very notion of "lone actors" can help us to understand the social dynamics of collective political violence more generally.

This article seeks to understand the trajectory of radicalization in the Catalan 'procés'. Regardless of their formal legal standing, referendum campaigns are distinct political opportunities which also generate further opportunities. Contrary to what some theories of protest would predict, when political opportunities are closed down at national level, and repression toughens, violent escalation leading to fragmentation and ultimately demobilization does not necessarily ensue, at least in the short term. As the Catalan 'procés' illustrates between the mid-2000s and late-2018, the combination of mechanisms such as appropriation of opportunities, downward scale shift and movement convergence can mitigate escalation processes. A dense network of local and grassroots assemblies displaced the previously dominant, major civil society organizations that led mass protests, especially during the 2012-2015 'diadas'. These grassroots actors prioritized the organization of dissent through more direct, more disruptive, but mostly peaceful forms of action. This in turn facilitated movement convergence, based upon solidarization, as it opened up local spaces where the activists from across the spectrum could mobilize together, pre-empting a clear violent escalation and the emergence of violent splinter groups till late 2018. ; En este artículo desarrollamos un marco interpretativo para comprender la trayectoria de radicalización en el "procés" catalán. Independientemente del estatus legal del referéndum en cuestión, las campañas de referéndum son capaces de crear, y de hecho son en sí mismas, oportunidades políticas. En contraste con las predicciones desde las teorías de los ciclos de protesta, cuando se cierran las oportunidades a nivel nacional y la represión se intensifica, no necesariamente se desarrolla un proceso de radicalización que contribuye al declive del ciclo, al menos a corto plazo. Como el caso catalán ilustra entre mediados de los años 2000 y finales de 2018, varios mecanismos pueden mediar este proceso, incluyendo la apropiación de oportunidades políticas, el cambio de escala hacia abajo y la convergencia del movimiento. Una densa red de asambleas locales de base reemplaza en el a las grandes organizaciones de la sociedad civil que hasta entonces, y especialmente durante las diadas entre 2012 y 2015, habían liderado la movilización social. Aunque estas asambleas ciudadanas han abrazado repertorios de acción más directos y disruptivos, estos han sido mayoritariamente pacíficos. Asimismo, este reemplazo ha favorecido la convergencia del movimiento, abriendo espacios donde activistas de un amplio espectro pueden movilizarse conjuntamente, y evitando de este modo una escalada violenta y la emergencia de grupos escindidos violentos (al menos hasta finales de 2018).

Das Working Paper schafft die Grundlage für die Erarbeitung eines konzeptionellen Rahmens für die Analyse von Räumen, in denen Rebellen und Zivilisten interagieren. In Anlehnung an die Erforschung von Supportnetzwerken aufständischer Gruppen und Governancedynamiken von Rebellengruppen, wird das Konzept des Routinised Insurgent Space (RIS) entwickelt. Es soll eine systematische Beurteilung der räumlichen Anordnung der Interaktion von aufständischen Gruppen mit bereits bestehenden und potentiellen Unterstützern ermöglichen. Dieses Working Paper befasst sich mit vier spezifischen Beispielen von RIS: Justiz- und Überwachungssysteme von Rebellen, die Erbringung von Dienstleistungen, Mobilisierung in Gefängnissen und Beerdigungen. Im Wesentlichen bezieht sich der Artikel auf zwei Fallstudien, die M-19 Guerilla-Organisation in Kolumbien (Anfang der 1970er bis 1990) und die PKK in der Türkei (Mitte der 1970er bis 1999).

The last years of Turkish politics have been tumul­tuous, yet the re­emer­gence of the Kurdish crisis in Turkey has not garnered much inter­national political attention. The region has returned to open war with thou­sands of casualties and mass re­pres­sion of Kurdish politicians and activists. The little infor­ma­tion, which emerges from this deeply compli­cated political environ­ment, is often confusing for inter­national audiences. This report sheds some light on the con­tem­porary Kurdish move­ment by outlining the origins and political objectives of the main actors: the insti­tutional political parties and the insurgent move­ment, the PKK.