Social Transformation and Violence: Evidence from U.S. Reconstruction

Abstract

How do political actors create and institutionalize revolutionary social transformation, and
what are the consequences of their efforts? In this paper, we provide a framework for understanding the conditions under which revolutionary social transformation unfolds and becomes
institutionalized over time. We argue that a direct consequence of social transformation and the
institutionalization thereof, however, is violence against revolution’s beneficiaries which can
likewise endure over the long-term. We test our arguments using historical, county-level data
on post-U.S. Civil War Reconstruction and we supply both quantitative and qualitative evidence
for our mechanisms. We ultimately demonstrate that social transformation and violence are inherently linked, not mutually exclusive outcomes, thereby expanding our understanding of how
social orders are created and maintained.

Keywords: statebuilding, violence, civil war, mixed methods