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.

Chapter three details methods of statecraft in Bahrain across the Twentieth and Twenty First Century. In particular, the chapter notes several compelling trends. Firstly, the British desire to sail a Middle Course in Bahrain led to reforms designed to ameliorate dissent through indirect and pacific means, yet it also ultimately led to the crystallisation of the Al Khalifa regime. These methods included the civil list, municipal reform, and even the acknowledgement of primogeniture. It also notes that in the 1950s, growing Arab nationalism and a desire to sail this middle course of non-interference meant Britain innovated and improvised techniques of statecraft in order to repress the Higher Executive Committee.Post-Independence diminishing British influence and increasing Saudi ascendency meant that the government eschewed tactics like public-delegation through parliament in favour of methods centred around patronage. This Saudi largesse had the simultaneous effect of binding Bahrain closer to Saudi, resulting in long-term de-democratisation and rentierism. Diminishing British influence upon Independence also seemed to cause a manifestation of both Saudi and Al Khalifa animosity towards political opposition and the Shiʿa.