Rebel Fragmentation and the Recruitment of Child Soldiers

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Christopher M Faulkner ◽  
Austin C Doctor
Keyword(s):  
Civil War ◽  
Armed Conflict ◽  
Low Cost ◽  
Child Soldiers ◽  
Recruitment Strategies ◽  
Rebel Groups ◽  
Rebel Group ◽  
Cross National

Abstract The recruitment and use of children in armed conflict remains a prevalent feature of modern civil war. But which conflict actors are more likely to recruit children? We argue that the process by which rebel groups form shapes their recruitment strategies. Specifically, we contend that rebels that form as splinter factions from the ranks of pre-existing rebel organizations are more likely to recruit child soldiers than other rebel groups. Splinter groups face unique constraints as they materialize in the midst of an active conflict environment, necessitating that they mobilize a sufficient force to contend with existing competitors. As a result, rebel factions are more likely to pursue recruitment strategies that are low cost vis-à-vis alternatives, focusing on their immediate survival. Under such conditions, children become especially attractive recruits. Leveraging the Foundations of Rebel Group Emergence Dataset, our cross-national investigation of 237 rebel groups active between 1989 and 2011 provides robust support for our hypothesis that splinter factions are strongly associated with the recruitment of children.

When Organizations Rebel: Introducing the Foundations of Rebel Group Emergence (FORGE) Dataset

2019 ◽  
Vol 64 (1) ◽  
pp. 183-193 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jessica Maves Braithwaite ◽  
Kathleen Gallagher Cunningham
Keyword(s):  
Civil Wars ◽  
Armed Conflict ◽  
Comparable Data ◽  
Rebel Groups ◽  
New Information ◽  
Intrastate Conflicts ◽  
Rebel Group ◽  
The Government ◽  
National Perspective ◽  
Cross National

Abstract Scholars have spent decades investigating various sources of rebellion, from societal and institutional explanations to individual motivations to take up arms against one's government. One element of the civil war process that has gone largely unstudied from a cross-national perspective is the role preexisting organizations in society play in the formation of rebel groups, principally due to a lack of comparable data on the origins of these armed actors across conflicts. In an effort to fill this gap, we present the Foundations of Rebel Group Emergence (FORGE) dataset, which offers information on the “parent” organizations and the founding processes that gave rise to rebel groups active between 1946 and 2011 in intrastate conflicts included in the Uppsala Conflict Data Program's Armed Conflict Database. The new information on rebel foundations introduced in this research note should help scholars to reconsider and newly explore a variety of conditions before, during, and after civil wars including rebel-civilian interactions, structures of rebel organizations, bargaining processes with the government, participation in postwar governance, and more.

scholarly journals Weakened by the storm

2018 ◽  
Vol 55 (3) ◽  
pp. 336-350 ◽  
Author(s):  
Colin Walch
Keyword(s):  
Civil War ◽  
Organizational Structure ◽  
Natural Disasters ◽  
Opportunity Cost ◽  
The Philippines ◽  
Tropical Storms ◽  
Rebel Groups ◽  
Group Recruitment ◽  
Rebel Group

How do natural disasters affect rebel group recruitment? Some influential research to date suggests that natural disasters – by lowering the opportunity cost of joining an armed movement – are likely to facilitate rebel group recruitment. In contrast, this study argues that natural disasters can negatively affect rebel organization and their recruitment efforts. It posits that natural disasters may weaken rebel groups in two main interrelated ways: (1) by leading to acute scarcity for rebel combatants and supporters, weakening the rebel group’s organizational structure and supply lines, and (2) by increasing government and international presence in areas where the insurgents operate. Empirically, this article explores these suggested mechanisms in two cases of natural disasters in the Philippines (typhoons Bopha in 2012 and Haiyan in 2013), which affected regions partially controlled by the communist rebel group, the New People’s Army (NPA). Based on data from extensive fieldwork, there is no evidence suggesting a boom in rebel recruitment in the wake of the typhoons. Rather, the NPA was temporarily weakened following the tropical storms, significantly impacting the civil war dynamics in the Philippines.

Explaining Rape during Civil War: Cross-National Evidence (1980–2009)

2013 ◽  
Vol 107 (3) ◽  
pp. 461-477 ◽  
Author(s):  
DARA KAY COHEN
Keyword(s):  
Civil War ◽  
Sierra Leone ◽  
Civil Wars ◽  
Armed Groups ◽  
Policy Makers ◽  
Causal Explanations ◽  
Rebel Groups ◽  
Original Dataset ◽  
Cross National

Why do some armed groups commit massive wartime rape, whereas others never do? Using an original dataset, I describe the substantial variation in rape by armed actors during recent civil wars and test a series of competing causal explanations. I find evidence that the recruitment mechanism is associated with the occurrence of wartime rape. Specifically, the findings support an argument about wartime rape as a method of socialization, in which armed groups that recruit by force—through abduction or pressganging—use rape to create unit cohesion. State weakness and insurgent contraband funding are also associated with increased wartime rape by rebel groups. I examine observable implications of the argument in a brief case study of the Sierra Leone civil war. The results challenge common explanations for wartime rape, with important implications for scholars and policy makers.

War, Peace and Democracy in the Democratic Republic of Congo

2006 ◽  
Vol 2 (3) ◽  
Author(s):  
Georges Nzongola-Ntalaja
Keyword(s):  
Civil War ◽  
Armed Conflict ◽  
Democratic Republic ◽  
Democratic Republic Of Congo ◽  
Republic Of Congo ◽  
International Media ◽  
Rebel Groups ◽  
Set Up

What is the nature of the armed conflict in the Democratic Republic of Congo? Is it a civil war, as constantly reported by the international media, or is it a war resulting from foreign aggression, as indicated by the authorities in Kinshasa? Irrespective of what one may think of the regime set up by Laurent-Désiré Kabila in the DRC, the legitimacy of his position needs to be recognised, especially considering that rebel groups only became active after the country was invaded by Rwanda and Uganda on 2 August 1998. Why did the war break out in the DRC? How is it that a country the size of an entire continent was invaded, occupied and exploited by much smaller states such as Rwanda, Uganda and Burundi? This article attempts to answer these questions.

Conflict-Related Sexual Violence and the Re-Escalation of Lethal Violence

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Robert U Nagel
Keyword(s):  
Civil War ◽  
Sexual Violence ◽  
Group Dynamics ◽  
Armed Conflict ◽  
Intrastate Conflict ◽  
Lethal Violence ◽  
Rebel Group ◽  
Conflict Termination

Abstract To what extent does sexual violence influence the likelihood of re-escalating lethal violence after a period of inactivity? Despite a substantive body of research that explores conflict recurrence, the literature has largely neglected the role of rebel group dynamics. I address this gap arguing that reports of rebel sexual violence in periods deemed inactive because of low numbers of casualties are associated with greater risks of escalating lethal violence. Specifically, building on research that shows an association between recruitment and rape as a socialization method during civil war, I argue that reports of sexual violence indicate that rebels are maintaining and mobilizing fighters in inactive conflict years. I systematically test this argument on all inactive intrastate conflict years from 1989 to 2015 using the updated Sexual Violence in Armed Conflict dataset and Armed Conflict Termination dataset. The results provide robust support for the argument that a re-escalation of lethal violence following inactive periods is more likely when rebels are reported to perpetrate sexual violence in both active and subsequent inactive periods.

Rebel Group Attrition and Reversion to Violence: Micro-Level Evidence from Syria

2020 ◽  
Vol 64 (2) ◽  
pp. 285-294
Author(s):  
Vera Mironova ◽  
Karam Alhamad ◽  
Sam Whitt
Keyword(s):  
Civil War ◽  
Research Note ◽  
Islamic State ◽  
Scholarly Community ◽  
Rebel Groups ◽  
Syrian Civil War ◽  
Rapid Ascent ◽  
Micro Level ◽  
Rebel Group

Abstract Why might former rebel combatants ever revert to fighting? The purpose of this research note is to inform the scholarly community on rebel incentives to remobilize for violence, a topic which has been underexplored in the literature, using evidence from an ongoing conflict: the case of volunteer ex-combatants in the Syrian civil war. In late 2014 to early 2015, we conducted surveys with 196 ex-fighters who served with different rebel group brigades linked to the Free Syrian Army as well as moderate Islamist and jihadist groups. Interviews were conducted in Gaziantep, Turkey, a common destination for combatants exiting the battlefield in rebel-held territory in northern Syria. We find that ex-fighters who are ideologically committed to the defeat of the Assad regime and/or the establishment of an Islamic state are most likely to want to return to combat. However, rebel group organizational deficiencies and strategies keep many highly motivated fighters away. Our results illustrate how rebel fighters might quickly remobilize when disciplined, well-organized rebel groups emerge on the scene, as evidenced by the rapid ascent of the Islamic State (ISIS).

Impact of Rebel Group Ideology on Wartime Sexual Violence

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mehwish Sarwari
Keyword(s):  
Statistical Analysis ◽  
Sexual Violence ◽  
Armed Conflict ◽  
Third Parties ◽  
The Other ◽  
Religious Groups ◽  
Country Level ◽  
Rebel Groups ◽  
Specific Factors ◽  
Rebel Group

Abstract Does rebel group ideology influence variation in wartime sexual violence? While existing studies have explored country-level and conflict-specific factors to explain wartime sexual violence, it is important to recognize that rebels vary in their characteristics and sexual violence behavior. Specifically, rebel groups differ in their values regarding gender equality. I argue that the ideological preferences held by rebels and their foreign supporters can influence sexual violence during armed conflict. Particularly, I make the claim that rebels influenced by a leftist ideology are less likely to commit wartime sexual violence, whereas religious groups, Islamist and non-Islamist, are more likely to perpetrate such violence. Using a statistical analysis to explore the effects of ideology of rebel groups on sexual violence during the period of 1989–2008, I find that leftist rebels commit lower levels of wartime sexual violence. Furthermore, findings reveal that leftist organizations that receive support from leftist third parties are less likely to perpetrate sexual violence. Religious rebels who receive support from conservative supporters, on the other hand, are more likely to commit sexual violence.

What do they Want? Rebels’ Objectives and Civil War Mediation

2018 ◽  
Vol 24 (4) ◽  
Author(s):  
Carmela Lutmar ◽  
Lesley Terris
Keyword(s):  
Civil War ◽  
Political Rights ◽  
Data Set ◽  
Rebel Groups ◽  
Intrastate Conflicts ◽  
Group Goals ◽  
Rebel Group ◽  
The Impact

AbstractIn this paper, we focus on mediation in intrastate conflicts, specifically on the impact of rebel group goals on the prospects for mediation. We ask whether the goals for which rebel groups fight (i.e. secession, irredentism, autonomy, greater political rights, government overthrow) have an impact on the likelihood that these conflicts will be mediated. We test our hypotheses on a new data set of rebel groups in Africa 1962–2010.

scholarly journals Rebel Rivalry and the Strategic Nature of Rebel Group Ideology and Demands

2020 ◽  
pp. 002200272096741
Author(s):  
Efe Tokdemir ◽  
Evgeny Sedashov ◽  
Sema Hande Ogutcu-Fu ◽  
Carlos E. Moreno Leon ◽  
Jeremy Berkowitz ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Civil War ◽  
War Literature ◽  
Group Conflict ◽  
Rebel Groups ◽  
Civil War Literature ◽  
The Face ◽  
Rebel Group ◽  
The Government ◽  
Scholarly Attention

How does the presence of multiple combatants affect rebel groups’ ideological and demand positioning? Although violent forms of inter-group conflict have been widely studied in the civil war literature, rebel groups’ strategic use of ideology and demands has received scarce scholarly attention. We argue that the pressure of competition forces rebel groups to differentiate themselves ideologically and demand-wise from their rivals to maximize their chances of survival and success. Rebel groups strive to set themselves apart by offering unique products to their supporters and recruits. Thus, we contend that rebel groups are more likely to modify their ideologies and demands from the government in the face of competition from rival groups. We test this theory using novel data collected from rebel group manifestos and public statements. Our findings suggest that groups are more likely to shift their ideology and modify their demands as the number of rival groups increases.

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