Concealing Conflict Markets: How Rebels and Firms Use State Institutions to Launder Wartime Trade

2021 ◽  
pp. 1-24
Author(s):  
Rachel Sweet
Keyword(s):  
State Agencies ◽  
Informal Networks ◽  
Conflict Zones ◽  
State Recognition ◽  
State Institutions ◽  
Rebel Governance ◽  
Rebel Groups ◽  
Border Trade ◽  
Trading Partners ◽  
Trade Deals

Abstract Although rebel groups are players on the international stage, little is known about their financial strategies at this scale. Existing research suggests that rebels succeed in cross-border trade by using informal networks that evade state authority. Yet rebels face a critical challenge: they operate in a normative environment that values state recognition and penalizes their illegitimate status. New evidence reveals that rebels can overcome this barrier and better connect to global economies not by evading the state but by infiltrating its institutions. Drawing on unprecedented data—the internal records of armed groups and their trading partners—I examine how rebels use state agencies in conflict zones to manufacture a legal cover for wartime trade. By using state agencies to provide false certification, rebels can place the stamp of state on their trade deals. This strategy of legal appropriation is a fundamentally different model of how conflict markets skirt sanctions and connect to global buyers. I develop a framework for how this strategy works that traces how international sovereignty norms and sanctions regimes create incentives for rebels, firms, and bureaucrats to coordinate around this legal veneer across the supply chain. The framework and evidence contribute theoretical and policy understandings for rebel governance, state building and fragmentation, and illicit global markets.

Rebel Jurisdiction, Due Process, and Tamil Tiger Justice

2021 ◽  
pp. 219-354
Author(s):  
René Provost
Keyword(s):  
Sri Lanka ◽  
International Law ◽  
Due Process ◽  
Armed Conflicts ◽  
Court System ◽  
Conflict Zones ◽  
Legal Standards ◽  
Rebel Governance ◽  
Law And Courts ◽  
The Government

Chapter 3 examines the implication of a broad requirement of due process for rebel courts, taking as a case study the judicial system put into place by the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) in Sri Lanka. The LTTE launched an armed insurgency against the government of Sri Lanka in the early 1980s, eventually controlling nearly 40 percent of national territory. The LTTE developed an independent civil administration which included a state-like court structure with seventeen distinct courts at trial, appeal, and supreme court levels. The group also enacted comprehensive civil and criminal codes, as well as other important pieces of legislation. The chapter takes this exceptionally sophisticated insurgent court system to interrogate the concept of rebel jurisdiction, exploring the foundations in public international law of the extent and limits of territorial, subject-matter, and personal jurisdictions of rebel law and courts. The analysis then turns to the thorny issue of due process requirements that must be met under international humanitarian and human rights law to consider as fair a trial before a rebel court. The precise content of the requirement of a fair trial under international law does vary in situations of emergency like international and non-international armed conflicts. In addition, legal standards must be adjusted to reflect the nature of non-state courts and the particular contextual challenges faced by rebel governance in conflict zones. On that basis, each applicable due process guarantee is analysed to determine the precise requirements it imposes on rebel justice.

scholarly journals Insurgent Rule as Sovereign Mimicry and Mutation: Governance, Kingship, and Violence in Civil Wars

2017 ◽  
Vol 59 (3) ◽  
pp. 629-656 ◽  
Author(s):  
Bart Klem ◽  
Sidharthan Maunaguru
Keyword(s):  
Civil Wars ◽  
Natural Order ◽  
State Institutions ◽  
Conceptual Argument ◽  
Rebel Governance ◽  
Divine Kingship ◽  
The Way

AbstractThis article uses the case of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) to make a conceptual argument about sovereignty. Despite its aura of natural order, sovereignty is ultimately self-referential and thus somewhat arbitrary and potentially unstable. At the heart of this unsteadiness, we posit, lies the paradox between the systematic tenets of rational governance and the capricious potential of sublime violence. Both are highly relevant to the LTTE case: the movement created de facto state institutions to mimic governance, but simultaneously deployed an elaborate transcendental register of sacrifice, meaning, and intractable power wielded by a mythical leader. To capture this paradox, we connect the literature on rebel governance with anthropological debates about divine kingship. We conceptualize sovereignty as a citational practice that involves the adaptation, imitation, and mutation of different idioms of authority: political and religious, modern and traditional, rational and mythical. Understanding sovereignty in this way debunks the idea that insurgent movements are merely lagging behind established states. As sites of mimicry, bricolage, and innovation, they transform the way sovereignty is practiced and understood, thus affecting the frame that sovereignty is.

scholarly journals Conflict Analysis of Forest and Land Fires in Implementing Collaborative Governance on Disaster Management in Kalimantan Indonesia

2021 ◽  
Vol 56 (2) ◽  
pp. 10-21
Author(s):  
Dody Ruswandi ◽  
Sumartono ◽  
Syamsul Maarif ◽  
Andy Fefta Wijaya
Keyword(s):  
Natural Disaster ◽  
Disaster Management ◽  
Collaborative Governance ◽  
Relevant Information ◽  
Conflict Theory ◽  
State Agencies ◽  
Public Officials ◽  
State Institutions ◽  
Governance Theory ◽  
Relevant Regulation

This research combines the ontological and sociological levels of implementing collaborative governance that is very significant in reducing the risk of natural disasters in Indonesia. The problem is very interesting to be examined by conducting descriptive qualitative research. The research is based on public policy theory, collaborative governance theory, and conflict theory. Data were collected using the in-depth interview with several key informants, direct observation, and related documentation. Data were analyzed using interactive models in three steps: data reduction, data display, and data verification supported by triangulation to obtain better credibility. The results were based on ontology, epistemology, and sociology by empowering the collaborative governance theory and conflict theory in Indonesia's forest and land fires disaster. Vision and mission of public policies related to forest and land fires disaster are needed to complete disaster prevention management by providing relevant information to stakeholders regarding regulations and sanctions. The results were produced a revised and detailed relevant regulation and state agencies as public officials in making revised regulations on forest and land fires disaster and natural disaster in Indonesia. The results of this research should be improved related to the forest and land disaster management policies. The researchers suggested that state institutions should cover the collaborative governance of natural disaster reduction in making better regulations on natural disaster management in Indonesia.

scholarly journals Strategic Communication and Prevention of Violent Extremism through Education: The Case of Kosovo

2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (2) ◽  
pp. 106
Author(s):  
Mimoza Hasani Pllana
Keyword(s):  
Violent Behavior ◽  
National Level ◽  
Strategic Communication ◽  
Internal Communication ◽  
Conflict Zones ◽  
National Education ◽  
State Institutions ◽  
Social Media Networks ◽  
Violent Extremism ◽  
Communication Frameworks

Strategic communication is an important asset when countering violent extremism at an institutional level, whereas its objective is to give emphasis to internal communication models that function within given organizations and institutions. Internet is one of the main communication frameworks used by violent extremist groups nowadays. Social media networks, such as YouTube for example, are among the most used communication forms used to recruit youngsters and other persons to join the conflict zones in the Middle East. State institutions in Kosovo have acted in preventing violent extremism by drafting national level strategies countering violent extremism. One of the main pillars that is foreseen as an important tool to prevent and react against this negative phenomenon is better education of children and youngsters. Therefore, national education institutions have an important responsibility to counter extremist narratives through internal and external communication as well as to address issues that can aggravate violent behavior and actions.   Received: 12 December 2020 / Accepted: 2 February 2021 / Published: 5 March 2021

Non-State Policing in Africa

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
S.J. Cooper-Knock
Keyword(s):  
Service Providers ◽  
Private Security ◽  
The State ◽  
Public Authority ◽  
Law And Order ◽  
Simple Task ◽  
Ideal Types ◽  
State Institutions ◽  
Rebel Groups ◽  
Simple Indicator

Studies of policing go to the heart of debates over public authority, violence, and order. Across the globe, the state cannot be assumed to be at the center of policing practices or their authorization. Across Africa, a diverse mix of individuals, groups, and corporations are involved in policing people’s everyday lives and the spaces in which they live them. Categorizing the different groups and individuals in this varied landscape is no simple task. Even drawing lines between “state” and “non-state” policing is not as easy as it may first appear. In reality, any constructed boundary is likely to be more porous and fluid than imagined. In some cases, this is because the service providers become entangled with the state. State officials, for example, may moonlight for other policing organizations. Conversely, state institutions might collaborate with, or outsource work to, civilian and corporate actors. In other cases, groups who identify as non-state actors may still mimic the symbols, materials and practices of the state in an attempt to bolster their own claims to public authority. Faced with the difficulty of sustaining any simple divide between categories such as “state” or “non-state” policing scholars have taken a variety of analytical routes: refining their definitions; developing “ideal types” against which messy empirical realities can be juxtaposed, or moving away from bounded typologies in an attempt to understand group and individuals on their own terms. Taking the latter course, this article highlights the variety of putatively non-state policing organizations and formations across the continent. In doing so, it highlights that the presence of private security corporations, rebel groups, neighbourhood watches, or so-called mobs are no simple indicator of the absence or weakness of state institutions and imaginaries. Understanding everyday negotiations over statehood and sovereignty requires a more nuanced approach. When this path is taken, and policing landscapes are studied in all their complexity, we gain crucial insights into the ways in which being and belonging, law and order, power and legitimacy, privilege and oppression function in any given context.

Negotiating Assimilation: Chicago Catholic High Schools' Pursuit of Accreditation in the Early Twentieth Century

2006 ◽  
Vol 46 (3) ◽  
pp. 348-381 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ann Marie Ryan
Keyword(s):  
Twentieth Century ◽  
Catholic Education ◽  
House Of Representatives ◽  
Catholic Schools ◽  
Professional Associations ◽  
State Agencies ◽  
College Prep ◽  
State Recognition ◽  
Early Twentieth Century ◽  
Public Instruction

At the Catholic Educational Association's (CEA) annual meeting in 1911, Reverend John E Green, president of St. Rita College Prep, an academy for boys on the southwest side of Chicago administered by the Augustinian Fathers, argued against Catholic schools' seeking accreditation from non-Catholic institutions. He called the practice “a heterodoxical spectacle” and “a stultification of our claim of the necessity of Catholic education.” Reverend Green opposed accreditation by both state agencies and professional associations, but just five years later requested assistance from the speaker of the Illinois House of Representatives, David E. Shanahan, to pursue state recognition for St. Rita. Speaker Shanahan called on the Illinois Superintendent of Public Instruction and asked him to respond to Reverend Green's request to dispatch the Illinois High School Supervisor to St Rita. What motivated a staunch opponent of recognition and accreditation like Green to go to such lengths to procure it? While accreditation by non-Catholic institutions did not negate the need for Catholic education, as Reverend Green feared, how did it contribute to the assimilation of Catholic schools and hence Chicago Catholics in the early twentieth century?

Introduction to the Special Feature on Dynamic Processes of Rebel Governance

2020 ◽  
Vol 65 (1) ◽  
pp. 3-14
Author(s):  
Kathleen Gallagher Cunningham ◽  
Cyanne E. Loyle
Keyword(s):  
Social Services ◽  
Political Institutions ◽  
Dynamic Processes ◽  
Conflict Processes ◽  
National Examination ◽  
Rebel Governance ◽  
Rebel Groups ◽  
Local Political Institutions ◽  
Conceptual Link ◽  
Cross National

Research on conflict processes has recently highlighted the myriad of tactics rebels use which are not violent in nature (cf. Petrova 2019; Ryckman 2020; Cunningham, Dahl, and Frugé 2017). Concurrently, rebel governance has drawn increasing attention from scholars and peacebuilding practitioners. In-depth historical studies of rebel groups highlight the activities and behaviors that rebels engage in beyond making war—such as providing social services and building local political institutions (Mampilly 2011; Arjona 2016a; Arjona, Kasfir, and Mampilly 2015). Complementing these works, studies have sought to provide cross-national examination of trends in these governance behaviors (Huang 2016; Heger and Jung 2017; Stewart 2018). Despite this work, quantitative and formal research in conflict processes often ignores the insights that the rebel governance literature has generated, frequently focusing exclusively on violent tactics or considering governance issues primarily as part of conflict settlement processes. In this special feature, we work to integrate the study of rebel governance with the conflict processes literature, providing a conceptual link between the two while offering novel contributions to advance our understanding of the dynamic processes of rebel governance.

East Asian Civilization and the Problem of Region Making

2020 ◽  
pp. 097639962094046
Author(s):  
Oleg Pakhomov
Keyword(s):  
Dynamic Equilibrium ◽  
East Asian ◽  
Political Legitimacy ◽  
Social Characteristics ◽  
Total Power ◽  
Informal Networks ◽  
Local Conditions ◽  
State Institutions ◽  
Relevant Today ◽  
Chinese Model

The paper examines East Asia as regional civilization whose enduring characteristics emerged from long-term relations towards the Chinese model of a centralized state. The civilizational approach helps to understand the interrelation between different aspects of the region, such as politics, economy or culture. Chinese statehood relied on the principle of total power unrestricted by any norms of morality or laws and its neutralization by non-state institutions and informal networks. These two aspects helped to maintain a dynamic equilibrium of the political system and adapt it towards internal and external changes. The adoption of Chinese statehood came into contradiction with Korean and Japanese natural and social characteristics. This produced risks for the internal political legitimacy of political systems constructed according to the Chinese model in both countries. Necessity to preserve internal legitimacy encouraged external expansion of Imperial China and forced Korea and Japan to resist Sinocentric order but continue to adapt Chinese influence to local conditions. This contradiction defined reality of East Asian region during the traditional period, influenced its transition to modernity and remains relevant today.

scholarly journals Arms for education? External support and rebel social services

2020 ◽  
pp. 002234332094074
Author(s):  
Reyko Huang ◽  
Patricia L Sullivan
Keyword(s):  
Social Services ◽  
Social Service ◽  
Service Provision ◽  
Time Series Data ◽  
Third Party ◽  
External Support ◽  
Series Data ◽  
Rebel Governance ◽  
Rebel Groups ◽  
The Impact

How does foreign support for rebel groups affect rebel governance of civilians during armed conflict? Existing studies primarily examine the local and domestic politics of rebel rule, leaving the effects of foreign intervention on rebel governance underexplored. Focusing on rebel provision of social services, this study considers two competing arguments. The first suggests that foreign sponsorship reduces rebels’ need to rely on local civilians for resources and hence decreases rebels’ incentives to provide services. The second anticipates that by augmenting rebels’ resources and military capabilities, foreign support increases their capacity to provide welfare services. These competing logics suggest that different types of foreign support have divergent effects on rebel social service provision. The article tests this theory using cross-sectional time-series data on external support for rebel groups and rebel governance for the post-1945 period. It finds that rebel groups that receive external funding, weapons or training are significantly more likely to provide education and health services to civilians. In contrast, direct military intervention to assist insurgent forces has no effect on rebel service provision. This article is among the first to systematically study the impact of external support and third-party intervention on rebel social service provision during civil war and holds implications for civilian welfare in contested territories.

scholarly journals Rebel Justice during Armed Conflict

2020 ◽  
Vol 65 (1) ◽  
pp. 108-134
Author(s):  
Cyanne E. Loyle
Keyword(s):  
Armed Conflict ◽  
Ad Hoc ◽  
Truth Commissions ◽  
Civilian Population ◽  
Central Concern ◽  
Rebel Governance ◽  
Rebel Groups ◽  
Direct Violence ◽  
Commissions Of Inquiry ◽  
Governance Institutions

Research on rebel behavior focuses on the violent conduct of these groups. Work on rebel governance, however, has documented the myriad ways in which rebel groups seek to gain legitimacy, project strength, and govern civilian populations beyond direct violence. These efforts stress the importance of governance institutions for securing cooperation and compliance from the civilian population, a central concern for rebel groups. Judicial processes are one avenue through which this cooperation and compliance can be secured. These efforts encompass a range of processes including ad hoc trials, truth commissions and commissions of inquiry, offers of amnesty, and reparations programs. Using new data on the rebel use of judicial processes from 1946 to 2011, I examine the argument that rebel judicial processes can best be understood as a mobilization strategy by the group, offering concessions to a supportive civilian population or coercion when support is weak.

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