Social Unrest
Instructions:
Research at least five peer-reviewed articles from academic journals, government sources, or research institutions (e.g., Rand) to illustrate the unrest.
Write a 1,050- to 1,400-word paper to include the following:Compare the root causes of the social unrest
Identify human rights challenges
Distinguish international agreements impacting the area
Determine the security challenges caused by the environmentFormat your paper consistent with APA guidelines
Solution
Social Unrest
According to Cadena, et al. (2015), social unrest includes acts of civil disobedience that promote the development of civil disorders such as strikes, violence, and disruptive behaviors. The rising cases of social unrest in the past few years cause alarm and demand a deeper understanding for effective management. Though their causes, tactics, morality, and legality differ, social unrests trigger civil disorder targeting the disruption of the society. Chaney and Davis (2015) state that civil disorders by an individual or a group mainly involve violence and threaten the security of a region and the safety of the people therein. However, it is important to note that social unrests are not always violent. Pappas and O’Malley (2014) point out that the unrest includes social disobedience, which comprises mainly of a peaceful refusal to obey particular social or political rules. According to the ILO, the cases of social unrest are rising significantly due to increased joblessness, social inequality, corruption, and inadequate measures for handling social concerns. The concern calls for a critical analysis to identify the causes, human rights issues, security challenges, and an effective way of addressing social unrest.
The Root Causes
Social inequality is one of the primary causes of social unrest. It creates disparities within the society triggering disobedience and disorder. According to Renn, Jovanovic, and Schröter (2011), the unequal distribution of resources, unequal opportunities, and the lack of consideration of the social, political, and economic concerns of a certain part of the population raises concerns among the group. There is a possibility of a social/civil unrest when a certain group feels let out. Most social unrests, according to Goode, Krishnan, Roan, and Ramakrishnan (2015), are triggered by inequality. The authors assert that social inequality greatly influences many other causes of unrest such as unemployment, police violence, and injustices. Social inequality involves aspects such as uneven opportunities and unequal resource distribution depending on socially-defined classifications. A government may, for instance, fail to set up measures that ensure people enjoy equal opportunities irrespective of their social classes. A community where the upper-middle and the rich classes enjoy education and employment opportunities while those from lower class and proletariats do not is likely to experience social unrest.
Unemployment and economic inequality are other causes. According to Renn, Jovanovic, and Schröter (2011), economic inequality pushes the victims to react against the issue, violently or non-violently. These acts count as forms of social unrest. The violent reaction of the affected people involves civil disorder, a form of social unrest, which mainly involves acts focused on causing anger, disruption of the community, destruction of property, and in extreme cases, the injury of the population perceived as benefitting from the inequality. On the other hand, non-violent reaction includes civil disobedience, mainly the refusal to obey the laws that promote the inequality. For instance, the 2008 social unrest in Greece illustrates the influence of unemployment and inequality in shaping a social unrest. A report by the OECD attributed the multiple demonstrations/strikes to the high youth unemployment rate (Renn, Jovanovic, & Schröter, 2011). The country recorded more than 20 percent youth unemployment, which caused violent and non-violent protests and demonstrations in Athens and other major cities in the country.
Human Rights Challenges and International Agreements
Police brutality and civil rights infringement breach human rights and cause social unrest. In the recent years, most social unrests experienced in the US and around the globe have been attributed to police violence and undermining of civil rights (Lowery, 2017). Affected groups often react to constant harassment and abuse by the police through civil disorder or disobedience. According to Lowery (2017), for instance, most people in the US feel that the police discriminate and act violently against African-Americans. The concern has triggered various social unrests following shootings, police brutality towards blacks, and police violence during protests. Sometimes police violence aggravates social unrest. For example, in Greece, the police shot and caused the death of a protestor aggravating the social unrests. The connection between police violence and other causes of the unrest is undeniable (Renn, Jovanovic, & Schröter, 2011). The infringement of human rights by law enforcers raises concern on the impact of social unrest in society.
Social unrest causes numerous human rights concerns and requires effective management through the application of national and international law. Some of the human rights challenges include discrimination, unfairness, police violence, and inequities that cause social unrest. The international community understands there is a need for better strategies for preventing or handling social unrest upon occurrence (Renn, Jovanovic, & Schröter, 2011). It criminalizes the use of excessive force and police violence/brutality on peaceful demonstrators. Additionally, an existing agreement that gives the IMF the mandate to loan governments affected by social unrest makes reconstruction and restoration of order possible. Most importantly, various free trade agreements offer conflict resolution mechanisms in cases of social unrest one country (Zhu, Chen, & Zhao, 2014; Pappas & O’Malley, 2014). The agreements ensure the management of the unrest to allow enhanced trade and integration.
Security Challenges
The implementation of an effective strategy for the management of social/civil unrest is difficult due to the existence of environment-related security challenges. Renn, et al. (2011) propose the implementation of a risk management strategy that identifies, analyzes, and responds to social unrests effectively. Cadena, et al. (2015) and Goode, et al. (2015) support the argument by purporting that forecasting is critical for the effective management of social unrest. However, the implementation of security measures for addressing social unrest faces challenges posed by the environment. The management of the security and safety threats that the issue raises requires an enabling environment. In the recent past, the greatest challenge has been an environment that offers convenient places for gathering and arranging demonstrations. Additionally, access to weapons and the technological advancement experienced in the recent past are major security challenges. The recent Arab spring and other unrests in the US and across the world were greatly influenced by the social media (Goode, Krishnan, Roan, & Ramakrishnan, 2015). Social networking sites offered alternative platforms for arranging demonstrations/protests and made it nearly impossible to prevent or end the social unrests.
In conclusion, the major causes of civil/social
unrest are social, economic, and political inequality, unemployment, police
violence, and infringement on civil rights among others. The causes and the
unrest impact human rights significantly. Police violence/brutality and
infringement on civil rights are significant human rights challenges.
Discrimination and unfairness on the basis of race, class, gender, or age among
other distinction features encroaches on civil and human rights. These are some
of the major causes of social unrest. Moreover, when unrests involve civil
disorder infringe on other people’s rights. The destruction of property and
injury of the people assumed to benefit from the social injustices and
inequalities among others violates human rights. As such, there is a need for
the development of an effective framework for addressing social unrest. However,
this is difficult without an effective strategy for overcoming the various
security challenges caused by the environment.
References
Cadena, J., Korkmaz, G., Kuhlman, C. J., Marathe, A., Ramakrishnan, N., & Vullikanti, A. (2015). Forecasting Social Unrest Using Activity Cascades. Plos ONE, 10 (6), 1-27.
Chaney, C., & Davis, D. J. (2015). Introduction: “No Justice, No Peace”: Social Unrest in Ferguson. . Western Journal of Black Studies, 39 (4), 267-271.
Goode, B. J., Krishnan, S., Roan, M., & Ramakrishnan, N. (2015). Pricing a Protest: Forecasting the Dynamics of Civil Unrest Activity in Social Media. Plos ONE, 10 (10), 1-25.
Lowery, W. (2017). They Can’t Kill Us All: The Story of Black Lives Matter. New York: Penguin Books Limited.
Pappas, T. S., & O’Malley, E. (2014). Civil Compliance and “Political Luddism”: Explaining Variance in Social Unrest During Crisis in Ireland and Greece. American Behavioral Scientist, 58 (12), 1592-1613.
Renn, O., Jovanovic, A., & Schröter, R. (2011). A Theoretical Approach towards Understanding Social Unrest. London: OECD.
Zhu, Y., Chen, P. Y., & Zhao, W. (2014). Injured workers in China: Injustice, conflict and social unrest. International Labour Review, 153 (4), 635-647.