Why do Insurgents Target Religion? The Case of Shining Path in Peru

Under what conditions do insurgents target religious communities, faith leaders, places of worship in conflicts that are not primarily about religion? Building on insights from scholarship on violence against non-combatants in civil wars, war and religion, and religion–state relations, this article proposes that insurgents who are not primarily motivated by religion are most likely to engage in violence against religion when they are engaged in contested efforts to control territory and encounter resistance from faith leaders. It then probes the plausibility of the argument through a mixed-method case study of the Shining Path insurgency in Peru, showing that variations in the spatial and temporal distribution of Shining Path’s attacks on religion are consistent with theoretical expectations

Criminology · Epistemology · Faith · Insurgency · Political science · Politics · Scholarship · Sociology · Worship · Law · Philosophy · Political Conflict and Governance · Religion and Society Interactions · Terrorism, Counterterrorism, and Political Violence