7 - Political Will

Summary

Chapter seven takes a closer look at the rebel group themselves, their make-up and propensity to project outward force and includes a focus on the individual participant in violent groups. Here we find that personal determinants and group behaviour shed a different light on escalation, serving an inner logic or social bonds rather than strategic concerns of the group. The cases used to illustrate the mechanisms are the Khalistan Movement in India, the German Rote Armee Fraktion and the Red Brigades in Italy. In the Indian case external pressure had clear repercussions for the internal dynamics of the Sikh movement. The German Rote Armee Fraktion showcases a personal extremity shift after the repression by the German state. The Italian case is notable for the role of individual ways out of violence to explain a de-escalation of the struggle. The chapter points to escalatory mechanisms focusing on extremity shifts within armed groups.