J‐l Thomas
Biographic Data
| ID | 128600 |
|---|---|
| NAME | J‐l Thomas |
| GIVEN NAMES | J‐l |
| FAMILY NAME | Thomas |
| SIGNATURE | THOMAS J L |
| AFFILIATIONS | Michigan State University |
| ORCID | 0000-0001-8736-7523 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 14 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 320 |
| WORKS AS AUTHOR | 14 |
| WORKS AS EDITOR | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2014 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2026 |
| H-INDEX | 7 |
Civilian support and the escalation of rebel demands during negotiations
Why do some rebel groups enlarge their demands during negotiations when escalated claims could threaten the stability of peace talks? This article engages with this question in the context of civil conflict by first demonstrating that radicalized or significantly elevated rebel demands can indeed shorten the duration of negotiations with the state. Next, the article examines why some rebel groups are willing to risk escalating their demands despi…
The gender digital divide and gender gaps in protest participation
Research shows women are less likely to protest than men and have relatively less access to cellphones than men. While a burgeoning body of research indicates cellphones can boost protest participation, scholars have overlooked potential gender differences in protest mobilization. Given this lacuna and the well-known gender disparities in communications technology, we examine whether the gender gap in mobile ownership influences gender difference…
Intimate partner violence and firearm purchasing
Findings indicate those experiencing and perpetrating IPV are significantly more likely to report firearm ownership and recent purchase of a firearm
Fighting for Peace? The Direct and Indirect Effects of Women’s Participation in Rebel Groups on Peace Negotiations
From the public to the private
How do women navigate traditional and informal governance structures to influence matters of communal peace and security? We leverage focus group discussions with around 180 participants and 10 key informant interviews from five different villages in the Ségou region to provide a case study of women’s contributions to peacebuilding in Central Mali. Our research aims to understand which women are able to influence communal dynamics regarding peace…
Sisters Are Doing It for Themselves
This article examines the effect rebel women have on the shape of civil war peace agreements, paying particular attention to the specific gender-inclusive provisions female rebels advocate for. I argue that, through conflict experiences and socialization, rebel women develop group identities that foster collective demands. Their identities as fighters and women from marginalized groups encourage rebel women to lobby for provisions that address th…
Wolves in Sheep's Clothing
Although a substantial body of research argues that women provide terrorist organizations with important tactical benefits, few studies draw out the implications of this argument or examine whether female recruits affect the outcomes of terrorist operations. Using data on individual suicide attacks from 1985 to 2015, I show that an attacker's gender influences the lethality of an attack. However, this effect is conditional upon the gender norms o…
Battle Stalemates and Rebel Negotiation Attempts in Civil Wars
This manuscript examines how battlefield events influence belligerents’ pursuit of negotiated settlements in civil wars. We argue that successive stalemates are most likely to precipitate rebel demands for negotiations because they offer groups both the opportunity and willingness to push for a compromise settlement. Unlike rebel losses, stalemated battles demonstrate that rebels can offer military resistance to the state. Yet, unlike rebel battl…
The social origins of female combatants
We investigate the factors that lead some rebel organizations to deploy women in combat roles while others restrict women’s participation to non-combat roles or exclude them entirely. Our argument focuses on the influence of the scope and frequency of women’s prior participation in social, political, and economic activities on groups’ decisions to employ women in combat roles and women’s desire to pursue such roles when they are made available. W…
Violence and Trophy Taking
In collaboration with Carrie V. Wilson, Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act of 1990 (NAGPRA) Director for the Quapaw Tribe of Oklahoma, researchers at Indiana University undertook a comprehensive study of NAGPRA collections from the Gant site (3MS11), a pre-Columbian village site in Mississippi County, Arkansas. Following non-destructive, macroscopic analysis of skeletal material, evidence of violent trauma was identified in tw…
Women on the frontline
Despite the frequent participation of women in armed groups, few studies have sought to explain the variation in their roles across different rebellions. Herein, we investigate this variation. We argue that the political ideology a group adopts plays a central role in determining the extent of women's participation, particularly their deployment in combat roles. Specifically, we link variations in women's roles in armed groups to differences in b…
The Rebels’ Credibility Dilemma
This article examines why rebel groups make large demands of governments that are inconsistent with their fighting capacity, especially when such demands are almost always rejected. We show that making large demands, even if ultimately rejected by the government, makes sense for rebels who face a credibility dilemma. Such a dilemma is most likely to arise when militarily weak rebel groups face governments of uncertain strength and can commit to f…
Women's Participation in Violent Political Organizations
While women have participated in a variety of militarized movements across time and space, the determinants of their participation have not been examined systematically. In this article, we seek to explain variation in women's involvement across different violent political organizations. Our research highlights the role that organizational attributes play in influencing women's presence in violent groups. We evaluate our hypotheses using an origi…
Rewarding Bad Behavior
Although violent organizations often use terrorism as a means to achieve political aims, recent studies suggest the tactic is ineffective because it fails to help groups gain concessions. While focused exclusively on concessions, these studies overlook other important markers of success, specifically whether groups are invited to participate in negotiations as a result of their use of terrorism. Extant studies also conduct statistical analyses on…
Rewarding Bad Behavior
Although violent organizations often use terrorism as a means to achieve political aims, recent studies suggest the tactic is ineffective because it fails to help groups gain concessions. While focused exclusively on concessions, these studies overlook other important markers of success, specifically whether groups are invited to participate in negotiations as a result of their use of terrorism. Extant studies also conduct statistical analyses on…
Women's Participation in Violent Political Organizations
While women have participated in a variety of militarized movements across time and space, the determinants of their participation have not been examined systematically. In this article, we seek to explain variation in women's involvement across different violent political organizations. Our research highlights the role that organizational attributes play in influencing women's presence in violent groups. We evaluate our hypotheses using an origi…
Women on the frontline
Despite the frequent participation of women in armed groups, few studies have sought to explain the variation in their roles across different rebellions. Herein, we investigate this variation. We argue that the political ideology a group adopts plays a central role in determining the extent of women's participation, particularly their deployment in combat roles. Specifically, we link variations in women's roles in armed groups to differences in b…
The social origins of female combatants
We investigate the factors that lead some rebel organizations to deploy women in combat roles while others restrict women’s participation to non-combat roles or exclude them entirely. Our argument focuses on the influence of the scope and frequency of women’s prior participation in social, political, and economic activities on groups’ decisions to employ women in combat roles and women’s desire to pursue such roles when they are made available. W…
Wolves in Sheep's Clothing
Although a substantial body of research argues that women provide terrorist organizations with important tactical benefits, few studies draw out the implications of this argument or examine whether female recruits affect the outcomes of terrorist operations. Using data on individual suicide attacks from 1985 to 2015, I show that an attacker's gender influences the lethality of an attack. However, this effect is conditional upon the gender norms o…
The Rebels’ Credibility Dilemma
This article examines why rebel groups make large demands of governments that are inconsistent with their fighting capacity, especially when such demands are almost always rejected. We show that making large demands, even if ultimately rejected by the government, makes sense for rebels who face a credibility dilemma. Such a dilemma is most likely to arise when militarily weak rebel groups face governments of uncertain strength and can commit to f…
Sisters Are Doing It for Themselves
This article examines the effect rebel women have on the shape of civil war peace agreements, paying particular attention to the specific gender-inclusive provisions female rebels advocate for. I argue that, through conflict experiences and socialization, rebel women develop group identities that foster collective demands. Their identities as fighters and women from marginalized groups encourage rebel women to lobby for provisions that address th…
Fighting for Peace? The Direct and Indirect Effects of Women’s Participation in Rebel Groups on Peace Negotiations
Battle Stalemates and Rebel Negotiation Attempts in Civil Wars
This manuscript examines how battlefield events influence belligerents’ pursuit of negotiated settlements in civil wars. We argue that successive stalemates are most likely to precipitate rebel demands for negotiations because they offer groups both the opportunity and willingness to push for a compromise settlement. Unlike rebel losses, stalemated battles demonstrate that rebels can offer military resistance to the state. Yet, unlike rebel battl…
Violence and Trophy Taking
In collaboration with Carrie V. Wilson, Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act of 1990 (NAGPRA) Director for the Quapaw Tribe of Oklahoma, researchers at Indiana University undertook a comprehensive study of NAGPRA collections from the Gant site (3MS11), a pre-Columbian village site in Mississippi County, Arkansas. Following non-destructive, macroscopic analysis of skeletal material, evidence of violent trauma was identified in tw…
Rewarding Bad Behavior
Although violent organizations often use terrorism as a means to achieve political aims, recent studies suggest the tactic is ineffective because it fails to help groups gain concessions. While focused exclusively on concessions, these studies overlook other important markers of success, specifically whether groups are invited to participate in negotiations as a result of their use of terrorism. Extant studies also conduct statistical analyses on…
Women's Participation in Violent Political Organizations
While women have participated in a variety of militarized movements across time and space, the determinants of their participation have not been examined systematically. In this article, we seek to explain variation in women's involvement across different violent political organizations. Our research highlights the role that organizational attributes play in influencing women's presence in violent groups. We evaluate our hypotheses using an origi…
The Rebels’ Credibility Dilemma
This article examines why rebel groups make large demands of governments that are inconsistent with their fighting capacity, especially when such demands are almost always rejected. We show that making large demands, even if ultimately rejected by the government, makes sense for rebels who face a credibility dilemma. Such a dilemma is most likely to arise when militarily weak rebel groups face governments of uncertain strength and can commit to f…
The social origins of female combatants
We investigate the factors that lead some rebel organizations to deploy women in combat roles while others restrict women’s participation to non-combat roles or exclude them entirely. Our argument focuses on the influence of the scope and frequency of women’s prior participation in social, political, and economic activities on groups’ decisions to employ women in combat roles and women’s desire to pursue such roles when they are made available. W…
Violence and Trophy Taking
In collaboration with Carrie V. Wilson, Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act of 1990 (NAGPRA) Director for the Quapaw Tribe of Oklahoma, researchers at Indiana University undertook a comprehensive study of NAGPRA collections from the Gant site (3MS11), a pre-Columbian village site in Mississippi County, Arkansas. Following non-destructive, macroscopic analysis of skeletal material, evidence of violent trauma was identified in tw…
Women on the frontline
Despite the frequent participation of women in armed groups, few studies have sought to explain the variation in their roles across different rebellions. Herein, we investigate this variation. We argue that the political ideology a group adopts plays a central role in determining the extent of women's participation, particularly their deployment in combat roles. Specifically, we link variations in women's roles in armed groups to differences in b…
Battle Stalemates and Rebel Negotiation Attempts in Civil Wars
This manuscript examines how battlefield events influence belligerents’ pursuit of negotiated settlements in civil wars. We argue that successive stalemates are most likely to precipitate rebel demands for negotiations because they offer groups both the opportunity and willingness to push for a compromise settlement. Unlike rebel losses, stalemated battles demonstrate that rebels can offer military resistance to the state. Yet, unlike rebel battl…
Wolves in Sheep's Clothing
Although a substantial body of research argues that women provide terrorist organizations with important tactical benefits, few studies draw out the implications of this argument or examine whether female recruits affect the outcomes of terrorist operations. Using data on individual suicide attacks from 1985 to 2015, I show that an attacker's gender influences the lethality of an attack. However, this effect is conditional upon the gender norms o…
Fighting for Peace? The Direct and Indirect Effects of Women’s Participation in Rebel Groups on Peace Negotiations
From the public to the private
How do women navigate traditional and informal governance structures to influence matters of communal peace and security? We leverage focus group discussions with around 180 participants and 10 key informant interviews from five different villages in the Ségou region to provide a case study of women’s contributions to peacebuilding in Central Mali. Our research aims to understand which women are able to influence communal dynamics regarding peace…
Sisters Are Doing It for Themselves
This article examines the effect rebel women have on the shape of civil war peace agreements, paying particular attention to the specific gender-inclusive provisions female rebels advocate for. I argue that, through conflict experiences and socialization, rebel women develop group identities that foster collective demands. Their identities as fighters and women from marginalized groups encourage rebel women to lobby for provisions that address th…
Intimate partner violence and firearm purchasing
Findings indicate those experiencing and perpetrating IPV are significantly more likely to report firearm ownership and recent purchase of a firearm
Civilian support and the escalation of rebel demands during negotiations
Why do some rebel groups enlarge their demands during negotiations when escalated claims could threaten the stability of peace talks? This article engages with this question in the context of civil conflict by first demonstrating that radicalized or significantly elevated rebel demands can indeed shorten the duration of negotiations with the state. Next, the article examines why some rebel groups are willing to risk escalating their demands despi…
The gender digital divide and gender gaps in protest participation
Research shows women are less likely to protest than men and have relatively less access to cellphones than men. While a burgeoning body of research indicates cellphones can boost protest participation, scholars have overlooked potential gender differences in protest mobilization. Given this lacuna and the well-known gender disparities in communications technology, we examine whether the gender gap in mobile ownership influences gender difference…
Political Conflict and Governance (11 works) · Political science (10 works) · Law (9 works) · Sociology (9 works) · Law (7 works) · Terrorism, Counterterrorism, and Political Violence (6 works) · Gender, Security, and Conflict (5 works) · Political economy (5 works) · Politics (5 works) · Psychology (5 works)