IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/sae/jocore/v68y2024i5p938-963.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Rebel, Remain, or Resign? Military Elites’ Decision-Making at the Onset of the American Civil War

Author

Listed:
  • Peter B. White

Abstract

A critical element in civil wars is military fragmentation. Yet, we have a limited understanding of why military elites fight in civil wars and on what side. In this article I develop a theory of the economic and professional motivations of military elites. I test this theory using the case of West Point graduates in the American Civil War. I argue that in addition to home state, economic and professional interests were a major influence on West Pointers. Graduates with connections to Southern cash crops were less likely to fight for the Union and more likely to fight for the Confederacy. Higher ranking graduates were more likely to fight for both sides, as they were better positioned to compete for promotion. I test this argument using a new dataset of more than 1000 West Point graduates’ wartime allegiances and antebellum careers and find strong evidence in support of my expectations.

Suggested Citation

  • Peter B. White, 2024. "Rebel, Remain, or Resign? Military Elites’ Decision-Making at the Onset of the American Civil War," Journal of Conflict Resolution, Peace Science Society (International), vol. 68(5), pages 938-963, May.
    • Handle: RePEc:sae:jocore:v:68:y:2024:i:5:p:938-963
    DOI: 10.1177/00220027231185575
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/00220027231185575
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1177/00220027231185575?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Kathleen Gallagher Cunningham, 2013. "Actor Fragmentation and Civil War Bargaining: How Internal Divisions Generate Civil Conflict," American Journal of Political Science, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 57(3), pages 659-672, July.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Emily Kalah Gade & Michael Gabbay & Mohammed M. Hafez & Zane Kelly, 2019. "Networks of Cooperation: Rebel Alliances in Fragmented Civil Wars," Journal of Conflict Resolution, Peace Science Society (International), vol. 63(9), pages 2071-2097, October.
    2. Rob Williams, 2022. "Turning the lights on to keep them in the fold: How governments preempt secession attempts," Conflict Management and Peace Science, Peace Science Society (International), vol. 39(4), pages 422-446, July.
    3. Katherine Sawyer & Kathleen Gallagher Cunningham & William Reed, 2017. "The Role of External Support in Civil War Termination," Journal of Conflict Resolution, Peace Science Society (International), vol. 61(6), pages 1174-1202, July.
    4. Pearce Edwards, 2021. "The politics of nonviolent mobilization: Campaigns, competition, and social movement resources," Journal of Peace Research, Peace Research Institute Oslo, vol. 58(5), pages 945-961, September.
    5. Nicholas Sambanis & Micha Germann & Andreas Schädel, 2018. "SDM: A New Data Set on Self-determination Movements with an Application to the Reputational Theory of Conflict," Journal of Conflict Resolution, Peace Science Society (International), vol. 62(3), pages 656-686, March.
    6. Ezequiel Gonzalez-Ocantos & Chad Kiewiet de Jonge & Carlos Meléndez & David Nickerson & Javier Osorio, 2020. "Carrots and sticks: Experimental evidence of vote-buying and voter intimidation in Guatemala," Journal of Peace Research, Peace Research Institute Oslo, vol. 57(1), pages 46-61, January.
    7. Victor Asal & Brian J. Phillips, 2018. "What explains ethnic organizational violence? Evidence from Eastern Europe and Russia," Conflict Management and Peace Science, Peace Science Society (International), vol. 35(2), pages 111-131, March.
    8. Nils-Christian Bormann & Burcu Savun, 2018. "Reputation, concessions, and territorial civil war," Journal of Peace Research, Peace Research Institute Oslo, vol. 55(5), pages 671-686, September.
    9. Lars-Erik Cederman & Manuel Vogt, 2017. "Dynamics and Logics of Civil War," Journal of Conflict Resolution, Peace Science Society (International), vol. 61(9), pages 1992-2016, October.
    10. Crost, Benjamin & Duquennois, Claire & Felter, Joseph H. & Rees, Daniel I., 2018. "Climate change, agricultural production and civil conflict: Evidence from the Philippines," Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Elsevier, vol. 88(C), pages 379-395.
    11. Nadav G Shelef & Yael Zeira, 2023. "International recognition and support for violence among nonpartisans," Journal of Peace Research, Peace Research Institute Oslo, vol. 60(4), pages 588-603, July.
    12. Dominic Rohner, 2018. "Success Factors for Peace Treaties: A Review of Theory and Evidence," Cahiers de Recherches Economiques du Département d'économie 18.08, Université de Lausanne, Faculté des HEC, Département d’économie.
    13. Christine S. Mele & David A. Siegel, 2019. "Identifiability, state repression, and the onset of ethnic conflict," Public Choice, Springer, vol. 181(3), pages 399-422, December.
    14. Vera Mironova & Loubna Mrie & Sam Whitt, 2020. "Commitment to Rebellion: Evidence from Syria," Journal of Conflict Resolution, Peace Science Society (International), vol. 64(4), pages 614-639, April.
    15. Gaku Ito, 2021. "Why does ethnic partition foster violence? Unpacking the deep historical roots of civil conflicts," Journal of Peace Research, Peace Research Institute Oslo, vol. 58(5), pages 986-1003, September.
    16. Jessica Maves Braithwaite & Charles Butcher, 2023. "Muddying the Waters: The Anatomy of Resistance Campaigns and the Failure of Ceasefires in Civil Wars," Journal of Conflict Resolution, Peace Science Society (International), vol. 67(7-8), pages 1376-1404, August.
    17. Manuel Vogt & Kristian Skrede Gleditsch & Lars-Erik Cederman, 2021. "From Claims to Violence: Signaling, Outbidding, and Escalation in Ethnic Conflict," Journal of Conflict Resolution, Peace Science Society (International), vol. 65(7-8), pages 1278-1307, August.
    18. Vasilyeva, Olga & Libman, Alexander, 2020. "Varieties of authoritarianism matter: Elite fragmentation, natural resources and economic growth," European Journal of Political Economy, Elsevier, vol. 63(C).
    19. William G Nomikos, 2021. "Why share? An analysis of the sources of post-conflict power-sharing," Journal of Peace Research, Peace Research Institute Oslo, vol. 58(2), pages 248-262, March.
    20. Arı Barış & Gizelis Theodora-Ismene, 2017. "Conflict Fragmentation Index," Peace Economics, Peace Science, and Public Policy, De Gruyter, vol. 23(4), pages 1-7, December.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:sae:jocore:v:68:y:2024:i:5:p:938-963. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: SAGE Publications (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://pss.la.psu.edu/ .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.