The Social Construction of Grievance and Everyday Responses to Violent Conflict: Insights from the Maoist Conflict in West Bengal, India

Abstract

ABSTRACT While in the civil wars literature grievance is often considered as a cause of violent conflict, this paper investigates how grievances are meaningful to the people who experience violence, and how these meanings are expressed in everyday actions. Through the case of the Maoist conflict in India, in this paper I explore how grievance is socially constructed and related to action according to local people’s own narratives. This study reveals that perceptions of grievance are related not only to violent actions, but also to everyday strategies to resist violence and achieve durable peace and social change at the local level.