Solveig Hillesund

• Dyrstad, Karin & Hillesund, Solveig (2020). Explaining Support for Political Violence: Grievance and Perceived Opportunity. Journal of Conflict Resolution.  ISSN 0022-0027.  64(9), s 1724- 1753 . doi: 10.1177/0022002720909886 Full text in Research Archive. Show summary

  What explains support for violence against the state? The surge in survey-based studies in (former) conflict areas has improved our understanding of the determinants of armed conflict. Yet, the potential interaction between grievances and political opportunity structure has received little attention in microlevel studies. Integrating common arguments from the civil war literature with the political behavior tradition, this article argues that perceived political efficacy, a central component of the political opportunity structure, moderates the association between individual and group grievance and people’s support for political violence. It represents a first individual-level test of the argument that perceived political opportunity structure and grievances combine to explain internal armed conflict. Using original survey data from Guatemala, Nepal, and Northern Ireland (2016), we find robust empirical evidence that support for violence increases with perceived grievance and decreases with political efficacy; and some evidence of an interaction between the two.

• Hillesund, Solveig & Østby, Gudrun (2020). Inequality, Identity, and Conflict, In Fren Osler Hampson; Alpaslan Özerdem & Jonathan Kent (ed.),  Routledge Handbook of Peace, Security and Development.  Routledge.  ISBN 9780815397854.  s 213 - 223
• Hillesund, Solveig; Barrett, Gray; Bahgat, Karim; Dupuy, Kendra; Gates, Scott; Nygård, Håvard Mokleiv; Rustad, Siri Camilla Aas; Strand, Håvard; Urdal, Henrik & Østby, Gudrun (2018). Horizontal inequality and armed conflict: a comprehensive literature review. Revue canadienne d'études du développement.  ISSN 0225-5189.  s 1- 19 . doi: 10.1080/02255189.2018.1517641 Full text in Research Archive.
• Hillesund, Solveig (2017). Choosing Whom to Target: Horizontal Inequality and the Risk of Civil and Communal Violence. Journal of Conflict Resolution.  ISSN 0022-0027.  63(2), s 528- 554 . doi: 10.1177/0022002717734286 Full text in Research Archive. Show summary

  Do different types of inequality spur violence with different targets? This article explores whom violent movements choose to target when they take to arms, by comparing civil conflicts, which target the state, to communal conflicts, which target other ethnic groups. Different types of ethnic group disadvantage relate to conflict through different mechanisms. Political exclusion is expected to promote the choice to target the central government rather than other ethnic groups, while economic disadvantages should increase the risk of both civil and communal conflicts. The different expectations stem from two important differences between political and economic horizontal inequalities: only the government has the authority to change the political distribution, while there can be many avenues to economic redistribution; and blame is more straightforwardly assigned to the government for political than for economic disadvantages. Statistical analysis of 155 politically relevant ethnic groups in Africa (1991–2009) provides support for both propositions.

• Hillesund, Solveig (2015). A dangerous discrepancy: Testing the micro-dynamics of horizontal inequality on Palestinian support for armed resistance. Journal of Peace Research.  ISSN 0022-3433.  52(1), s 76- 90 . doi: 10.1177/0022343314551080
• Hillesund, Solveig (2014). Rasjonalitet, frustrasjon og væpnet motstand: Palestinske holdninger til vold og kompromiss. Babylon - Nordisk tidsskrift for Midtøstenstudier.  ISSN 1503-5727.  12(1), s 56- 71 . doi: 10.5617/ba.4147

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• Hillesund, Solveig; Gates, Scott & Nygård, Håvard Mokleiv (2019). Choosing Targets and Tactics: How Horizontal Inequality Spurs Conflict.
• Sivertsen, Gunnar; Solberg, Espen; Børing, Pål; Hillesund, Solveig & Piro, Fredrik Niclas (2019). Bibliometric analysis and career mapping of the SFF scheme : Sub-report II to the SFF evaluation panel. NIFU-rapport. 31. Show summary

  This report was commissioned by the Research Council of Norway (RCN) as part of the evaluation of the Norwegian Centres of Excellence scheme (SFF). The results of the quantitative analyses presented here are meant to serve as background information for the international scientific committee appointed to evaluate the scheme. According to RCN’s requirements, this report is based on quantitative analyses, notably bibliometrics and register-based career tracking. The report should be seen in conjunction with a parallel qualitative analysis of the impact of the SFF scheme on the Norwegian research system (Borlaug et al. 2019). Both reports deal with many of the same questions, but with different data and approaches

• Bahgat, Karim; Barrett, Gray; Dupuy, Kendra; Gates, Scott; Hillesund, Solveig; Nygård, Håvard Mokleiv; Rustad, Siri Camilla Aas; Strand, Håvard; Urdal, Henrik & Østby, Gudrun (2017). Inequality and Armed Conflict: Evidence and Policy Recommendations. Conflict Trends. 1.

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