Civilianizing Civil Conflict: Civilian Defense Militias and the Logic of Violence in Intrastate Conflict.

This article examines how civilian defense militias shape violence during civil war. We define civilian defense forces as a sedentary and defensive form of pro-government militia that incumbents often use to harness the participation of civilians during a counterinsurgency campaign. We argue that ci...

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Publicado en:International Studies Quarterly Vol. 60; no. 3; pp. 499 - 511
Autores principales: CLAYTON, GOVINDA, THOMSON, ANDREW
Formato: Artículo
Publicado: Oxford University Press / USA Sep2016
Materias:
Acceso en línea:Ver este registro en EBSCOhost
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        atl: Civilianizing Civil Conflict: Civilian Defense Militias and the Logic of Violence in Intrastate Conflict.
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          CLAYTON, GOVINDA
          THOMSON, ANDREW
        affil:
          University of Kent
          Queen's University Belfast
      su:
        Iraq
        Civil defense
        Militias
        Counterinsurgency
        Military ethics
        Military history
      sug:
        subj:
          Civil defense
          Iraq
          Militias
          Counterinsurgency
          Military ethics
          Military history
      ab: This article examines how civilian defense militias shape violence during civil war. We define civilian defense forces as a sedentary and defensive form of pro-government militia that incumbents often use to harness the participation of civilians during a counterinsurgency campaign. We argue that civilian defense forces reduce the problem of insurgent identification. This leads to a reduction in state violence against civilians. However, we also claim that these actors undermine civilian support for insurgents, which leads to an increase in rebel violence against civilians and overall intensification of conflict. A statistical analysis of government and rebel violence against civilians from 1981 to 2005 and a qualitative assessment of a civilian defense force operating in Iraq from 2005 to 2009 offer strong support for our theoretical claims. These findings provide further insight into pro-government militias and their effects on violence. They also have wider ethical implications for the use of civilian collaborators during civil war.
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      doctype: Article
      src: R
    language: English
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