Sociology Theses and Dissertations
Permanent URI for this collectionhttp://hdl.handle.net/1903/2804
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Item Reinsert Life Stories: A Description of the Colombian Ex-Guerrillas´Life-Course From a Sociological Perspective(2005-06-03) Florez-Morris, Mauricio; Milkie, Melissa; Sociology; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)This dissertation describes the life histories of 42 former left-wing Colombian guerrilla members of the M-19, ELP, and CRS. These reinserts' life course experiences are investigated using a descriptive, life course approach and a qualitative methodology. These life courses are studied in the form of personal life course trajectories that are influenced by the individual (or his or her human agency) and by social circumstances (linked lives, locations in time and place, and timing of lives). Three stages in the reinserts' life course involving the key transitions into and out of the movement are investigated. The first stage, acquiring a rebel identity, involves leaving civilian life and joining a guerrilla movement. Becoming a member of the insurgency is the first turning point in the reinserts' life course. The study identifies seven factors that influence the subjects' decision to enter these groups: (1) family, (2) peers, (3) conflict escalation, (4) generational imprint, (5) biographical availability, (6) individual ideology, and (7) desire to improve economic and social status in the community. The second stage consists of reinserts' adoption and maintenance of their guerrilla identity. Four factors that influenced subjects' staying in the group were: (1) heavy dependence on the group, (2) shared values, (3) clandestine behaviors, and (4) the influence of the group on the subjects' self-identity. The third stage occurs when the subjects undergo the transformation from guerrilla to reinsert status. This involves first leaving the guerrilla movement and then abandoning the political party, AD-M19. This third stage involves a second turning point in the reinserts' life course where first military and then political activities are abandoned. Factors that influenced the subjects' decision to abandon political activities were: (1) the individual's perception that he or she did not matter to the group, (2) an increase in social obligations due to new roles in civilian society, (3) the stigma associated with being a reinsert, (4) political violence against reinserts, and (5) the stripping away of representative functions which had been carried out by the political party.Item The Roots of Political Instability Amongst Indigenous Nationalities and in the 'Nigerian' Supra-National State, 1884-1990: A Longitudinal and Comparative Historical Study(2004-11-30) Ejiogu, Emmanuel Chinenyengozi; Hage, Jerald; Gurr, Ted R.; Sociology; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)The 'Nigerian' supra-national state was built by British colonialism in West Africa's Niger basin. Its supra-national status derives from its multi-national composition. It attracts the attention of scholars who want to account for its continuing poor political performance. Our inquiry into the roots of its continuing poor political performance was conducted from the perspectives of Harry Eckstein's congruence theory and the derivative framework from it that we called the E-G scheme. We found a high degree of social, economic, and political heterogeneity amongst the diverse nationalities that were compelled to constitute it. In the three nationalitiesthe Igbo, Yoruba, and Hausa-Fulanithat we sampled, that heterogeneity is evident in their governmental and non-governmental authority patterns. We found that the British formulated and implemented state building policies that preferentially favored the Hausa-Fulani but not the Igbo, the Yoruba, and others. We found that the British were impressed by the inherent autocratic traits of the Hausa-Fulani, but not the obviously democratic traits of the indigenous Igbo, and Yoruba authority patterns. Thus, while there emerged tremendous resemblances between the authority patterns of the 'Nigerian' supra-national state and those of the Hausa-Fulani, there emerged deep-seated disparity between them and indigenous Igbo, and Yoruba authority patterns. We established that the resultant state of affairs created and promotes commensurate bases of legitimacy for the authority of the supra-national state only in core Hausa-Fulani society but not in Igbo and Yoruba societies. During colonial rule high political performance in the 'Nigerian' supra-national state was region-specific. In spite of the resemblances shared by the authority patterns of the supra-national state and indigenous Hausa-Fulani authority patterns, their common incongruence and inconsonance with the indigenous authority patterns of the Igbo, Yoruba, and others constitute sufficient ground for the continuing poor political performance in the 'Nigerian' supra-national state.