Why Fight?: Examining Self-Interested Versus Communally-Oriented Motivations in Palestinian Resistance and Rebellion

Abstract

Why do individuals participate in weak-against-strong resistance, terror or insurgency? Drawing on rational choice theory, many claim that individuals join insurgent organizations for self-interested reasons, seeking status, money, protection, or rewards in the afterlife. Another line of research, largely ethnographic and social network based, suggests that prospective fighters are driven by social identity-they join out of an allegiance to communal values, norms of reciprocity, and an orientation towards process rather than outcome.This project tested these two lines of argument against each other by directly linking values orientations in a refugee camp to professed willingness to participate in resistance or rebellion in two different contexts. Professed willingness to participate in resistance, and especially in violent rebellion, is positively correlated with communal orientation and negatively correlated with self-enhancement values. The strength of correlation growsnegatively for self-enhancement and positively for communal orientations-as anticipated sacrifice increases. Results are discussed.

Groups as moral boundaries: A developmental perspective

“…For example, people who have been instructed to be empathic toward the ingroup are more competitive in later intergroup interactions (Cohen, Montoya, & Insko, 2006), and people who rate higher on parochial empathy (empathy for the ingroup, rather than the outgroup) are more likely to withhold charitable donations from and endorse harm toward the outgroup (Bruneau, Cikara, & Saxe, 2017). Empathic concern can even have quite extreme consequences in contexts of intergroup war: Israelis and Palestinians who rate higher on empathy for their own communities are more likely to endorse harm toward the outgroup (Ginges & Atran, 2009), and individuals who show more communal concern for their ingroup are more likely to endorse extreme acts of outgroup aggression, such as terrorism and rebellion (Argo, 2009).…”

Parochial Empathy Predicts Reduced Altruism and the Endorsement of Passive Harm

“…However, there is reason to believe that boosting overall EC may not provide a universal palliative in intergroup settings. In fact, interviews with those who engage in (or attempt) extreme intergroup violence indicate that these individuals are characterized not by a lack of empathy but rather by high levels of empathy and communal concern for their in-group ( Argo, 2009 ). Similarly, among Israelis and Palestinians, the willingness to endorse out-group harm is associated with EC toward their own communities ( Ginges & Atran, 2009 ; see also Lickel, Miller, Stenstrom, Denson, & Schmader, 2006 ).…”

Ex-combatant agency and re-recruitment

“…Opportunistic ex-combatants are likely to be attracted to mercenary activity in pursuit of material gains. With communal oriented motivations, rationality is premised more on deontological concerns regarding the means rather than the ends (Argo, 2009). This makes the latter value oriented and driven by commands or demands that derive from ethical, religious, and social belief systems linked to the community.…”