Search results

"How do ordinary people survive wartime violence when it arrives in their neighborhood? When confronted with the threat of violence, how do individuals decide whether to stay in their homes or flee? For those who stay, what factors determine whether individuals cooperate or contend with insurgent governance? Since the U.S.-led invasion in March 2003 up to the formation of the Islamic State, Iraqis from different walks of life have confronted existential decisions about how to survive political violence. Despite facing similar threats and limited resources, some people fled their homes while others remained. Among those who stayed, most hid, others resisted, some remained nonaligned, and a select few collaborated. In this book, Austin J. Knuppe draws on fieldwork in Baghdad and Iraqi Kurdistan, along with UN migration data, to illustrate how individuals drew upon a combination of routines, tools, and rhetorical strategies to navigate violent situations. Knuppe finds that Iraqis belonging to communities with limited cohesion and capacity survived by fleeing to safer areas under the protection of rival security providers. For those who stayed, the ability of communities to pursue cooperation, contention, or neutrality depended not only on the cohesion and capacity of the community, but also the resolve and combat effectiveness of the anti-IS coalitions. This account gives voice to ordinary Iraqis who were forced to make hard choices during times of intense danger and uncertainty, and sheds new light on the repertoires civilians employ when faced with war"--

While many scholars and social commentators bemoan the rise of "mass incarceration" in the United States, few states have succeeded in significantly reducing prison populations. Fueled by systemic changes in penal codes, sentencing practices, and federal funding all designed to increase the use of imprisonment, most states have been unable to reverse the massive increase that has transpired over the past four decades. More alarming, there are few indications that mass incarceration will be reduced any time soon. There are a few exceptions, with California being one. Since 2007, California's prison population has dropped by over 43,000 prisoners. Reductions have also been achieved in the state parole (82,000) and probation (15,000) populations. Today there are 146,000 fewer Californians in prison, jail, parole, or probation. Initially driven largely by a period of lengthy litigation, a rare federal court order to depopulate, several other reforms, reflecting a sticks and carrots approach, were introduced beginning in 2007 to lower imprisonment rates. Among them was "Realignment," which relocated approximately 27,000 state prisoners to the counties. However, it required another stick in the form of a ballot initiative (Proposition 47) to further reduce the prison population and meet compliance with the federal court order. In the end, it was the externally imposed dual "sticks" of litigation and a ballot initiative that proved to be the driving forces in reducing California's use of mass incarceration.