Browsing by Author "White, Robert W."

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    Bob White: Open Access and the Center for Digital Scholarship
    (2015-09-17) White, Robert W.; Polley, David E.; Center for Digital Scholarship
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    From State Terrorism to Petty Harassment: A Multi-Method Approach to Understanding Repression of Irish Republicans
    (2017) White, Robert W.; Sociology, School of Liberal Arts
    Beginning in 1969, the Provisional Irish Republican Army conducted a paramilitary campaign designed to unite Northern Ireland with the Republic of Ireland, creating a 32 county democratic socialist republic. The Provisional IRA’s campaign officially ended in 2005, but former Provisionals and others who followed them continue to pursue armed struggle to this day. The Provisional IRA and its successors are part of the centuries old and highly documented “resistance” of Irish people to British interference in Ireland. Over those centuries, state authorities ‒ the British, Irish, and Northern Irish governments ‒ have “resisted” the dissent of Irish Republicans. This paper draws on three different research methodologies available to social scientists ‒ counts of events that inform quantitative analyses, intensive interviews/oral histories, and visual sociology ‒ and argues that a multi-method approach will provide a better understanding of the dynamics of “resistance” in Ireland and, more generally, social protest.
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    The Indy Racing League and the Indianapolis 500: Increasing Competition in Open-Wheeled Automobile Racing in the United States
    (http://www.americanpopularculture.com/archive/sports/racing.htm, 2012-05) White, Robert W.; Baker, Andrew J.
    Over the course of its lengthy history, the popularity of open-wheeled automobile racing in the United States has waxed and waned. This is especially evident in recent years. The 1996 “split” between the Indy Racing League (IRL; later, the IndyCar Series) and Championship Auto Racing Teams (CART; later the Champ Car World Series) severely hurt the sport. Following the split there was a well-documented decline in fan interest from which the sport has not recovered. Less understood, however, is that under the Indy Racing League the Indianapolis 500, the premier event in open-wheeled racing in the United States, became more competitive. Ironically, while fan interest decreased in the Indy Racing League era, the quality of racing increased. The increased competition associated with the Indy Racing League is a historically significant development that bodes well for the future of the sport.
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    Social Movements and Social Movement Organizations: Recruitment, Ideology, and Splits
    (Amsterdam University Press, 2017) White, Robert W.; Demirel-Pegg, Tijen
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    Terrorism, Counterterrorism and “The Rule of Law”: State Repression and “Shoot-to-Kill” in Northern Ireland
    (2019) White, Robert W.; Demirel-Pegg, Tijen; Lulla, Vijay
    Authors have argued that counterterrorism must be consistent with “the rule of law.” Often associated with this approach is the assumption that plural political structures limit the state’s response to terrorism and that state agents will be held accountable if their response is excessive. Scholars who focus on social movements reject this assumption.. We examine the state’s response to anti-state violence in Northern Ireland between 1969 and 1994. In 1982, Sinn Féin did much better than expected in an election to the Northern Ireland Assembly. Following the election, it is alleged that state agents followed a “shoot-to-kill” policy and shot dead Irish republican paramilitaries instead of arresting them. We find evidence suggesting such a policy and consider the implications.
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    The Greensburg Race Riot of 1907: Race and a Sundown Town
    (Indiana University, 2023) White, Robert W.; Sociology, School of Liberal Arts
    In April 1907, John Green, a Black resident of Greensburg, Indiana, was accused of robbing and raping white widow Caroline Sefton. Unable to lynch Green, who had been removed from the town, white residents rioted, attacking and injuring several Black men and threatening at least one Black family. Some accounts claim that in response to the riot African Americans fled Greensburg, and it became a sundown town. Author Robert White examines the history of racism in Greensburg and Decatur County and demonstrates that the riot was a symptom of a broader racial intolerance. Racism, which existed prior to the riot and persisted after the riot, drove African Americans from Greensburg, Decatur County, and surrounding counties. Racism created an almost entirely white area of southeastern Indiana that persisted as a sundown region for decades.
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    Why “Dissident” Irish Republicans Haven't Gone Away
    (Oxford, 2021-06) White, Robert W.; Sociology, School of Liberal Arts
    When considering “terrorists” and “terrorism,” the focus tends to be on violence—the threat of violence, its aftermath, the ideology and belief systems that lead to it, and so forth. Political violence, however, represents only a portion of the repertoire of collective action that is available to “terrorists.” Images from “dissident” Irish Republican events and photo-elicitation interviews with activists who participated in these events show that: (1) the repertoire of “violent” organizations includes nonviolent political activity; and (2) the organizational structures and affective incentives that sustain activism in nonviolent voluntary associations and social movement organizations also sustain activism in organizations that embrace physical force or “terrorism.” In combination, these findings show that “dissident” Irish Republicans are likely to persist into the foreseeable future. More generally, the findings also show that our understanding of “terrorists” and “terrorist organizations” will be enhanced if we focus less on their violent activities and more on their similarities with nonviolent activists and organizations.