Do targets matter? Repressive targeting in East Central Europe, 1980--1995

Within this dissertation I argue that the identity of challenging groups provides an important context for understanding repressive targeting policies. Such an explanation relies on the assumptions that (1) targeting is differentiated; and (2) states use repression to protect the interests of certain elites, what I term the Selective Repression Model (SRM). Target characteristics provide authorities with information that designates challengers as insiders (linked to elites) or outsiders (not linked with elites), and subsequently influence how repression is applied. The alternative Collective Repression Model (CRM) is based on the assumptions that (1) targeting is undifferentiated; and (2) repression is used to protect the collective good. Here, repression is influenced more by the behavior than the identity of challengers. Using events data collected for Poland, East Germany, and Czechoslovakia, for the timeperiod of 1980--1995, both models are tested to explain whether targeting is differentiated on the basis of ethnicity, gender, class, and political identity. Overall, the empirical results suggest support for the CRM: targeting is relatively undifferentiated in Poland and East Germany, once controlling for protest intensity, before and after 1990. The results also provide initial support for the SRM in that targeting is differentiated before 1990 for Czechoslovakia, and after 1992 in the Czech Republic and Slovakia. These results suggest that states differentiate among targets based both on protest intensity and target characteristics, but that the combination of group identity, protest intensity, and political context are important for understanding and explaining how states apply repression against certain challengers.