Non-Violence and Civilian Agency in Communal War: Evidence from Jos, Nigeria
本文分析尼日利亚乔斯市两个相邻社区在社群冲突中为何一个发生暴力而另一个没有，发现平民能动性（如领导力、对内部青年的社会控制、拒绝与外部武装合作）而非结构性因素是防止杀戮的关键。
Communal violence is one of the deadliest forms of political violence in Nigeria. Research has yet to identify and explain the variation in spread and intensity of violence ‘within’ communal conflicts. This article analyses violence and non-violence in two almost contiguous neighbourhoods located in the city of Jos in central Nigeria that share ethnic, religious, and socio-economic similarities. It shows that structural factors such as geography, demography, or intervention by security forces do not predict non-violence. Rather, preventing killings during communal conflicts was contingent on civilian agency such as leadership, social control over internal youth, and refusal to collaborate with external armed groups. Drawing on narrative interviews, the article explores motivations for violence prevention and finds that knowledge concerning the organization of violence and lived experience in conflict zones were important factors that gave leaders the ability and confidence to persuade mobilized men not to start killings. These findings have important implications for the protection of civilians in communal conflicts.