Losing Control

Chapter 4 discusses the first of three paths to protest violence discussed in the book. Each of these paths involves interactions, interpretations, and emotional dynamics that emerge between the start of the protest and violence erupting. In this first path, police mismanagement and spatial incursions merge into a loss-of-control path. In this path, the organization of police forces is either flawed or breaks down during the protest situation. When the resulting uncertainty and disorientation of officers is combined with territorial invasions by protesters, officers perceive a loss of control over the situation. This loss of control leads officers to assume that usually reliable situational routines have broken down, which increases tensions and fear and favors physical clashes. The chapter uses detailed case vignettes to illustrate how a loss-of-control path unfolds. It examines the role of territory in protests and provides insights into police objectives and training.

Situational Breakdowns Beyond Protest Violence

Chapter 9 explores whether the books’ findings hold in other contexts by examining other instances of surprising outcomes. First, the chapter discusses the outbreak of violence in uprisings after police shootings of African American citizens in the United States, such as Ferguson, Missouri, in 2014 and Baltimore, Maryland, in 2015. The first section takes a detailed look at the role of background and context factors (such as symbolic and systemic racism) and situational patterns in uprisings turning violent. Then the chapter discusses successful and failed armed store robberies. Here the surprising outcome is not violence but armed criminals failing to get the money from an unarmed store clerk. Findings suggest similar patterns of situational breakdowns in these occurrences as in protests and uprisings. Overall, the chapter discusses the crucial importance of the micro-level of social phenomena: if routines of both collective and individual social events are disrupted, surprising outcomes occur.

Introduction

The Introduction discusses the emergence of physical violence in protests as a surprising outcome and shows how such outcomes emerge due to situational breakdowns—patterns taking place while the event itself is unfolding. It compares the relevance of situational dynamics for surprising outcomes, collective behavior, and individual action to that of background factors, such as motivations, strategies, and culture. It starts by discussing the 2007 Rostock G8 protest march, which turned violent despite all planning and expectations of the event staying peaceful and regardless of a “soft” police strategy. It then examines the 2009 Kehl NATO protest march, which stayed peaceful despite expectations of violence, a harsh police strategy, and individual protesters trying to escalate the situation. The Introduction also provides an overview of what is to come in the book, summarizing how situational breakdowns can explain a variety of surprising outcomes, from protest violence to violent uprisings and failed armed robberies.

Conclusion

The Conclusion discusses the implications of the book’s findings. It highlights the crucial role of situational interactions, interpretations, and emotions for surprising social outcomes. A section on external validity discusses whether other researchers in the field found similar patterns when examining brawls, atrocities, or revolutions. A second section discusses theoretical implications of the findings regarding the role of motivations versus situations, emotions versus rationality, collective and individual decision-making and reinterpretations, expectations and culture, as well as human inhibition to violence. A section on research implications reflects on what findings mean in particular for future research on protest policing, forward panics, other types of protests, and the roots of violent action. Lastly, a section on everyday life and the fear of violence discusses the social implications of the findings.

The (Lack of) Power of the Violent Few

Chapter 2 examines whether protesters’ motivations and the presence of the “violent few” can lead to violence in protest marches. The chapter first discusses how some protest groups, often dubbed the “black bloc,” are frequently viewed as motivated toward physical violence per se and are commonly assumed to be solely responsible for it. Yet the goals and influence of the violent few on violent clashes are often misinterpreted. A first section sheds light on who the violent few are. It shows that their key motivations, often associated with either anarchism or destruction for fun, in fact lie elsewhere and that their presence alone is not sufficient for clashes. Further sections discuss what the violent few want and whether they have the potential to stir up the crowd, as police and media often assume. A last section broadens the discussion to the overall impact of peoples’ motivations for the outbreak of violence.

Uncertainty

Chapter 6 sheds light on the missing information path, the third path to violence in the protest marches analyzed. As in the other two paths, interpersonal violence between protesters and police breaks out due to interactions, interpretations, and emotional dynamics during the protest. In this third path spatial incursions, escalation signs, and communication problems between protesters and police lead to violence. Chapter 6 shows that their interplay is vital. Using detailed case vignettes, the chapter illustrates how missing information regarding the other side’s goals and intentions in light of escalation signs and spatial incursions during the protest increases us–them boundaries and heightens tensions and fear. A first section of the chapter looks at the role of uncertainty and rumors in escalating situations. A second section discusses missing information as a key dynamic in leading to violence across protest marches.

Expecting the Worst

Chapter 5 examines the second path to violence in protest marches. Like the other two paths, it leads to violent clashes between protesters and police due to interactions, interpretations, and emotional dynamics that emerge between the start of the protest and violence erupting. This second path to protest violence, called the offense path, is comprised of spatial incursions, escalation signs, and property damage. Based on detailed discussions of US and German protests, the chapter argues that a self-fulfilling prophecy cannot explain the outbreak of violence but that actions during the protest can foster violence if they are interpreted as signs of immanent escalation. Such escalation signs increase tension and fear regardless of prior expectations. A further section discusses how property damage favors escalation. A last section highlights how their combination with spatial incursions and escalation signs during protests leads protesters or police to perceive an offense by the other group.

How to Keep Protests Peaceful

Chapter 8 discusses the practical implications of the findings discussed in Chapters 2 to 7. It highlights that violence can be avoided on the micro-level and presents specific measures to do so. First, it discusses the relevance of a flow of communication between protesters and police, clear territorial boundaries, and preventing rumors from spreading. It outlines boredom as a vital factor against violence. Second, the chapter highlights practical measures, such as focusing on communication, focusing on effective police management, respecting territorial boundaries, increasing awareness of the effect of escalation signs and property damage, as well as focusing on the danger zone of 1½ to 2½ hours after the start of a protest, during which time violence usually occurs. Discussing detailed examples of protests in Germany and the United States from 1960 until 2010, the chapter indicates that much can be done on the micro-level to prevent violent clashes if we know what to look for.

Protest Groups and Physical Violence

Chapter 1 lays the basis for the analyses in subsequent chapters by summarizing the protest groups and types of violence examined in this book. A first section takes a closer look at the protest groups discussed in chapters 2 to 8: the 1960s student movements in the United States and Germany, the new social movements, and the global justice movement protests. It describes involved social movement groups and discusses their claim-making, their membership composition, their stance toward violence, the frequency of such groups clashing with police, as well as police perceptions of them. A second section discusses the definition of violence used in the book. Highlighting different concepts of violence, it argues for a concise definition of physical interpersonal violence—as actions injuring or killing another person. This definition also allows examination of whether other types of actions often labeled “violence,” such as property damage, may foster interpersonal violence.

The Police’s Fault?

Chapter 3 argues that police strategies and tactics do not cause protest violence directly. The chapter discusses different policing styles in the United States and Germany and shows that police strategies, agents provocateurs, and specific police cultures alone cannot lead to the eruption of violence. It explains how police strategies are often not implemented, and—contrary to common assumptions—if implemented, rigid police strategies alone cannot cause violence. Instead, soft strategies may favor escalation if they coincide with specific situational patterns. Yet situational dynamics, not the strategy, are key for violence to break out. Specific police actions, namely police mismanagement during a protest, can favor violence. Police mismanagement refers to situations in which operational command lacks overview or a course of action or communication among units is severely disrupted or breaks down. Mismanagement can lead to the emergence of violence in combination with other interactions between protesters and police.