Paricipation
Security
Distinctive
Identity
Social
Recognition of
Identity
Key: Boolean “and”:69
next section, Competition-Based Conflict is conceptualized as competition for tangible and/or non-tangible assets and Psychological motivation is conceptualized as violence motivated by emotion, perception, self-image, and/or group image. It is upon these theoretical propositions that the theoretical framework is built.
The theoretic framework that my dissertation presents addresses the descriptive aspects of PSC as well as the sustaining mechanisms. In proposing that the categories of Non-state Actors, ≥ 20 years of violent conflict, ≥ three violence-peace cycles, ≥500 directly relatable deaths, Competition-Based Conflict, and Psychological Motivations as jointly necessary components of PSC, a more comprehensive theoretic frame of the necessary components is presented.
CONCEPTUALIZATOIN
By using the building-block strategy to address identified gaps in the currently accepted theoretic construct, a more comprehensive conceptualization for the theoretic framework of PSC is presented. “This approach to theory development is a ‘building block’ approach. Each block, a study of each subtype, fills a ’space’ in the overall theory or in a typological theory” (George & Bennett, 2005, 78).While adapting existing theoretical constructs to new concepts, careful diligence must be exercised so as to avoid “conceptual traveling” or distortion from the original theoretical concept. Thus, a
classical approach to concepts is employed through the use of the “ladder of generality” (Collier & Mahon, 1993, 845-7; Goertz, 2005, 55-57). As such, the primary categorical designations remain true to Azar’s original theory. The ensuing theoretical framework is built upon the concepts established by Azar. What the theoretic frame also includes, however, are other components that are mentioned in Azar’s and others’ works that are
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deemed important or fundamental to the conceptualization of PSC but are not included as necessary components. This is done through reorganizing and increasing the intension or extension of the categories so that the theoretical conceptualization of PSC is more inclusive and/or measurable.
By moving up and down the ladder of generality towards a more general or narrow conceptualization, the original defining categories are preserved within new theoretical ones. For example, Azar’s category of “Effective Participation” is too broad to capture in a measurable way who participates and how. Therefore, this category is
divided into four separate categories that are more discretely measurable but conceptually consistent with Azar’s original concept of determining who participates and how through the category of “Effective Participation”. Likewise, “distinctive identity, and “social recognition of identity” are addressed in the broader, more inclusive, category of “Psychological Motivations” (Goertz, 2005, 63). Similarly, the category of “Security” will be included in the broader category of “Asset-based Competition”. When
conceptualized in this manner, each “new” category is now more measurable.
Components can be measured and tested to justify their inclusion as necessary aspects of PSC. “The possibility of encompassing more cases through the elaboration of secondary categories can allow for considerable flexibility regarding the meaning and application of the category” (Collier & Mahon, 1993, 850). With this “flexibility” to explore “family resemblances”, components within each categorical family can be tested to determine necessity within the theoretic frame of PSC.
What is of importance to this endeavor is establishing the theoretic existence (and possible necessity) of the components of PSC. To achieve this goal, intension, extension,
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secondary, and radial categorization are all utilized in the forthcoming conceptual structure as components are organized into discrete categories. In this, the general concepts and necessary components that pertain to PSC in existing literature will be theoretically preserved while being updated, clarified, and tested.
EFFECTIVE PARTICIPATION
What is “effective participation” and how is it measured? As an independent category, “Effective Participation” is too broad to capture or measure who participates in PSC and how. As conceptual reorganization moves down the latter of generality toward a more specific conceptualization, Azar’s category of “Effective Participation” is
separated into four independently necessary categories. These categories more clearly identify who participates (effectively) and how. These categories are: Non-State Actors, ≥ 20 years of violent conflict, ≥ three violence-peace cycles, and ≥ 500 directly relatable deaths (See figure 2).
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Figure 3.2: Expansion of Azar’s Category of Effective Participation
Component X1, “Non-State Actors” defines who the specific actors are in PSC.
This secondary category of effective participation is in conceptual compliance with Azar and other scholars’ literature on protracted conflict. Often in violent conflict, and
particularly in enduring rivalries, the state is the primary unit of analysis. This is not the assumption in PSC, however. The participants of the conflict, the conflict group, are the primary unit of analysis (Pruitt & Kim, 2004, 114). As stated in the literature review, a defining characteristic of PSC is that it is not limited to dyadic, state-level, elite versus elite conflict. Rather, in PSC, non-state actors (masses) are the primary unit of analysis. Non-state actors include individuals and conflict/identity groups such as ethnic, religious, and/or linguistic groups that exist as actors in violent conflict, separate from any state affiliation. This does not preclude the inclusion of the state as an actor in PSC, however.