Abstract:
Why do states tolerate mob violence? This dissertation theorizes that the interaction among variety of nationalism, returns to violence, and salience of legitimacy influence response to mob violence. Through case studies of mobs in four eras of American history, I find that mob violence is most likely to be tolerated when returns to violence are high, salience of legitimacy is low, and there is an ethnonationalist local government. When salience of legitimacy is high, a contested response between local and supralocal authorities is more likely. These findings demonstrate the importance of the under-enforcement of the law to American ethnonationalists.
