Regulating Militias
Governments, Militias, and Civilian Targeting in Civil War
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 6283553 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Jessica A Stanton (0000-0002-8019-804X, University of Pennsylvania, corresponding author) |
| Year | 2015 |
| Volume | 59 |
| Issue | 5 |
| Pages | 899-923 |
| Publication date | 2015-08-01 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Journal of Conflict Resolution (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0022-0027 • E-ISSN: 1552-8766 |
| Publisher | SAGE Publications Inc (PUBLISHER) |
| DOI | 10.1177/0022002715576751 |
| OpenAlex | W2010290136 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 74 |
| References cited | 38 |
In nearly two-thirds of civil wars since 1989, governments have received support in their counterinsurgency operations from militias. Many scholars predict higher levels of violence in conflicts involving pro-government militias because governments are either unable or unwilling to control militias. This article challenges this view, arguing that governments can and do often control militia behavior in civil war. Governments make strategic decisions about whether to use violence against civilians, encouraging both regular military forces and militia forces to target civilians or restraining regular military forces and militia forces from attacking civilians. In some cases, however, government and militia behavior differs. When a militia recruits its members from the same constituency as the insurgents, the militia is less likely to target civilians, as doing so would mean attacking their own community. Statistical analyses, using new data on pro-government militia violence in civil wars from 1989 to 2010, support these arguments
Control (management · Criminology · Economics · Government (linguistics · Management · Political economy · Political science · Sociology · Spanish Civil War · Gender, Security, and Conflict · Law · Political Conflict and Governance · Politics and Conflicts in Afghanistan, Pakistan, and Middle East
Pro-regime Militias and Civil War Duration
Pro-Government Militias
Devlet Dişi Si̇lahli Gruplarin Mukavemet Strateji̇si̇
The Social and Political Life of Latin American Infrastructures
Violence and Restraint in Civil War
Uneven accountability in the wake of political violence
Civilian Mass Killings Perpetrated by Nonstate Actors
Armed group proliferation and conflict dynamics
Governance Interrupted
Coups and the End of Mass-Killing Episodes
The internal brakes on violent escalation
Tolerance as Implicit Order
The Journal of Intervention and Statebuilding Ten Years on
Delegating repression
When militias go ‘rogue’
How pro-government militia ethnic relationships influence violence against civilians
Bureaucratic quality and the severity of genocide and politicide
A nation-in-the-making, in arms
Why Do Peasants Fight Rebels? The Cases of Civilian Defence Forces Against the Farc in Southern Tolima, Colombia
The Houthi Movement and the Management of Instability in Wartime Yemen
Re-examining the State/Non-State Binary in the Study of (Civil) War
What Restrains Military from Targeting Civilians in Civil Wars
State failure, genocide and politicide reconsidered
Diverging Data
Public Perceptions of Wartime Atrocities
Strong militias, weak states and armed violence
The thin line between militia and terrorist groups
Beyond Counterinsurgency
Pro-government militias and civil war termination
Civilian self-defense militias in civil war
Threats to Leaders’ Political Survival and Pro-Government Militia Formation
Plausible deniability? An investigation of government and government-outsourced violence in refugee hosting areas
Sexual violence in the shadows
Punish or tolerate? State capacity, military oversight, and wartime sexual violence
Introducing the African Relational Pro-Government Militia Dataset (RPGMD)
Delegating Terror
Precipitating state failure
The fog of war
Ethnicity and conflict severity
Spoiling the Broth? The Impact of Militia Violence on Peace Negotiations
Fair-Weather Abusers? Civil War Dynamics and the Onset of State-Sponsored Violence
Pathways out of the Quagmire ? Perspectives for al-Quaeda in the Sahel
No peace, no war’ proponents? How pro-regime militias affect civil war termination and outcomes
Civilian forces and counterterrorism nexus in Africa
What contributions do anti-insurgent militias produce during armed conflict? Exploring the capabilities of anti-insurgent militias in Colombia and the Philippines
Why Are Some Civil Wars More Lethal Than Others? The Effect of Pro-Regime Proxies on Conflict Lethality
Rivalry, insurgency, and pro-government militias in authoritarian states
Militias in Civil Wars
Governments, Informal Links to Militias, and Accountability
The Ties That Bind
Capture the Fort
Do States Delegate Shameful Violence to Militias? Patterns of Sexual Violence in Recent Armed Conflicts
Repression by Proxy
True Believers, Deserters, and Traitors
The Puzzle of Militia Containment in Civil War
From Shame to New Name
Excluded Ethnic Groups, Conflict Contagion, and the Onset of Genocide and Politicide during Civil War
Restoring Legitimacy
Rebel Primary Commodity Markets, Price Shocks, and Supplier Victimization
Civilians, Control, and Collaboration during Civil Conflict
An Informational Theory of Genocide and Politicide During Civil War
The Wartime Roots of Rural Governance
Progovernment Militias
Violence Against Civilians During Armed Conflict
Complicit States and the Governing Strategy of Privilege Violence
Ideology and civilian victimization in Northern Ireland’s civil war
How Iran aligned militias seized Iraq
Protection or predation? Understanding the behavior of community-created self-defense militias during civil wars
Violence against civilians and public support for the state
When do ties bind? Foreign fighters, social embeddedness, and violence against civilians
Multidimensional Measures of Militarization (M 3)
Peace Processes and the Integration of Pro-Government Militias
The untold stories of militiamen from Gojjam, Ethiopia
A social ecology of civil conflict
Darfur
States, the security sector, and the monopoly of violence
Death Squads
Death Squads in Global Perspective
Making War and Building Peace
The Logic of Violence in Civil War
The Impact of Pro-Government Militias on Human Rights Violations
Monitoring Trends in Global Combat
Darfur Destroyed
Variation in Sexual Violence during War
Terrorism in the Context of Civil War
Democratic Competition and Terrorist Activity
Militias in Civil Wars
Expanded Trade and GDP Data
Governments, Informal Links to Militias, and Accountability
Resources and the Information Problem in Rebel Recruitment
Do States Delegate Shameful Violence to Militias? Patterns of Sexual Violence in Recent Armed Conflicts
Militias, Ideology, and the State
Risk Mitigation, Regime Security, and Militias
Draining the Sea
Violence Against Civilians in the Second Intifada
Making the Most of Statistical Analyses
Wanton and Senseless
Between a Rock and a Hard Place
Ethnic Defection in Civil War
Battle Losses and Rebel Violence
The Role of State-Sponsored Militias in Genocide
Counterinsurgent Paramilitarism
Armed Conflict 1946-2001
International System and Technologies of Rebellion
Handling and Manhandling Civilians in Civil War
Are Coethnics More Effective Counterinsurgents? Evidence from the Second Chechen War
Ethnicity, Insurgency, and Civil War
Armed Groups and Sexual Violence
| Unique citing works | 74 |
|---|---|
| Citations per year | 6,73 |
| Citation span | 2015 - 2026 (12) |
| Citation velocity | current |
| Highly cited | No |
| Citation types | Neutral: 73 |