In a working
paper by Kristine Eck and Joakim Kreutz, the authors argue that regime transitions function as a
window of opportunity for communal leaders to exploit the decreased deterrent
capacity of the state:
"In such periods, the state is less able to contain the
problems of communal opportunism that are otherwise restricted by the threat of
punishment from formal institutions or in-group policing structures. We suggest
that this problem will be particularly acute for regimes transitioning away
from autocracy; when excessive force is the norm, anything less is seen as a
signal of institutional weakness. Other research on communal
violence between Muslims and Hindus in neighboring India support the idea
that state incentives to punish perpetrators is essential to understanding the
intensity of communal violence."
