Date on Master's Thesis/Doctoral Dissertation
5-2013
Document Type
Master's Thesis
Degree Name
M.A.
Department
Political Science
Committee Chair
Rhodebeck, Laurie
Author's Keywords
Self-immolation; Collective action; Protest; Collective behavior; Suicide; Mobilization
Subject
Self-immolation--Political aspects--India; Self-immolation--Political aspects--South Korea; Protest movements--India; Protest movements--South Korea; Suicide--Political aspects
Abstract
In recent years, self-immolation has become a pervasive tactic of political protest. To this point, however, it has been unclear why self-immolation has become so widely employed, calling into question the social and political efficacy of the tactic. The purpose of this thesis is to determine self-immolation's impact on three target groups: the core, the periphery, and the political system. In doing so, I conduct a comparative study of India's anti-reservation movement and South Korea's pro-democracy movement, both of which experienced high frequencies of self-immolation. I demonstrate that while self-immolation was ineffective at mobilizing the core and only moderately effective at mobilizing the periphery and initiating political change, in South Korea, self-immolation was highly effective on all three groups. I argue that the differences in efficacy can be attributed to variations in social structure, political culture, issue diffusion, and institutional access to the political system.
Recommended Citation
Goff, Sean, "The ultimate sacrifice : a comparative study of self-immolation as a tactic of political protest in India and South Korea." (2013). Electronic Theses and Dissertations. Paper 508.
https://doi.org/10.18297/etd/508
