IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/sae/compsc/v38y2021i3p247-269.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

The legacy of war: The effect of militias on postwar repression

Author

Listed:
  • Sabine C Carey

    (University of Mannheim, Germany)

  • Belén González

    (Leuphana University Lüneburg, Germany
    GIGA German Institute of Global and Area Studies)

Abstract

How do wartime legacies affect repression after the conflict ends? Irregular forces support the government in many civil wars. We argue that if this link continues after the war, respect for human rights declines. As “tried and tested†agents they are less likely to shirk when given the order to repress. Governments might also keep the militias as a “fall-back option†, which results in more repression. Analyzing data from 1981 to 2014 shows that pro-government militias that were inherited from the previous conflict are consistently associated with worse repression, but newly created ones are not. Wartime pro-government militias target a broader spectrum of the population and are linked to worse state violence. New militias usually supplement wartime ones and use violence primarily against political opponents. This study highlights the detrimental impact of war legacies.

Suggested Citation

  • Sabine C Carey & Belén González, 2021. "The legacy of war: The effect of militias on postwar repression," Conflict Management and Peace Science, Peace Science Society (International), vol. 38(3), pages 247-269, May.
    • Handle: RePEc:sae:compsc:v:38:y:2021:i:3:p:247-269
    DOI: 10.1177/0738894219899006
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/0738894219899006
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1177/0738894219899006?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. Hill, Daniel W. & Jones, Zachary M., 2014. "An Empirical Evaluation of Explanations for State Repression," American Political Science Review, Cambridge University Press, vol. 108(3), pages 661-687, August.
    2. Sabine C. Carey, 2010. "The Use of Repression as a Response to Domestic Dissent," Political Studies, Political Studies Association, vol. 58, pages 167-186, February.
    3. Sabine C. Carey, 2010. "The Use of Repression as a Response to Domestic Dissent," Political Studies, Political Studies Association, vol. 58(1), pages 167-186, February.
    4. Kalyvas, Stathis N. & Balcells, Laia, 2010. "International System and Technologies of Rebellion: How the End of the Cold War Shaped Internal Conflict," American Political Science Review, Cambridge University Press, vol. 104(3), pages 415-429, August.
    5. Pauline Grosjean, 2014. "Conflict and Social and Political Preferences: Evidence from World War II and Civil Conflict in 35 European Countries," Comparative Economic Studies, Palgrave Macmillan;Association for Comparative Economic Studies, vol. 56(3), pages 424-451, September.
    6. Whitten-Woodring, Jenifer & Van Belle, Douglas A., 2017. "The Correlates of Media Freedom: An Introduction of the Global Media Freedom Dataset," Political Science Research and Methods, Cambridge University Press, vol. 5(1), pages 179-188, January.
    7. Poe, Steven C. & Tate, C. Neal, 1994. "Repression of Human Rights to Personal Integrity in the 1980s: A Global Analysis," American Political Science Review, Cambridge University Press, vol. 88(4), pages 853-872, December.
    8. Caroline Hartzell & Matthew Hoddie, 2003. "Institutionalizing Peace: Power Sharing and Post‐Civil War Conflict Management," American Journal of Political Science, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 47(2), pages 318-332, April.
    9. Noam Lupu & Leonid Peisakhin, 2017. "The Legacy of Political Violence across Generations," American Journal of Political Science, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 61(4), pages 836-851, October.
    10. Grossman, Guy & Manekin, Devorah & Miodownik, Dan, 2015. "The Political Legacies of Combat: Attitudes Toward War and Peace Among Israeli Ex-Combatants," International Organization, Cambridge University Press, vol. 69(4), pages 981-1009, October.
    11. Madhav Joshi & T. David Mason, 2011. "Civil War Settlements, Size of Governing Coalition, and Durability of Peace in Post--Civil War States," International Interactions, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 37(4), pages 388-413, October.
    12. Neil J. Mitchell & Sabine C. Carey & Christopher K. Butler, 2014. "The Impact of Pro-Government Militias on Human Rights Violations," International Interactions, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 40(5), pages 812-836, October.
    13. Bellows, John & Miguel, Edward, 2009. "War and local collective action in Sierra Leone," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 93(11-12), pages 1144-1157, December.
    14. Doyle, Michael W. & Sambanis, Nicholas, 2000. "International Peacebuilding: A Theoretical and Quantitative Analysis," American Political Science Review, Cambridge University Press, vol. 94(4), pages 779-801, December.
    15. Chelsea Estancona & Lucia Bird & Kaisa Hinkkainen & Navin Bapat, 2019. "Civilian self-defense militias in civil war," International Interactions, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 45(2), pages 215-266, March.
    16. Pierson, Paul, 2000. "Increasing Returns, Path Dependence, and the Study of Politics," American Political Science Review, Cambridge University Press, vol. 94(2), pages 251-267, June.
    17. Ada Ferrer-i-Carbonell & Paul Frijters, 2004. "How Important is Methodology for the estimates of the determinants of Happiness?," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 114(497), pages 641-659, July.
    18. Hartzell, Caroline & Hoddie, Matthew & Rothchild, Donald, 2001. "Stabilizing the Peace After Civil War: An Investigation of Some Key Variables," International Organization, Cambridge University Press, vol. 55(1), pages 183-208, January.
    19. Carter, David B. & Signorino, Curtis S., 2010. "Back to the Future: Modeling Time Dependence in Binary Data," Political Analysis, Cambridge University Press, vol. 18(3), pages 271-292, July.
    20. Blattman, Christopher, 2009. "From Violence to Voting: War and Political Participation in Uganda," American Political Science Review, Cambridge University Press, vol. 103(2), pages 231-247, May.
    21. Thomas Edward Flores & Irfan Nooruddin, 2009. "Democracy under the Gun Understanding Postconflict Economic Recovery," Journal of Conflict Resolution, Peace Science Society (International), vol. 53(1), pages 3-29, February.
    22. Hyde, Susan D. & Marinov, Nikolay, 2012. "Which Elections Can Be Lost?," Political Analysis, Cambridge University Press, vol. 20(2), pages 191-210, April.
    23. Fariss, Christopher J., 2014. "Respect for Human Rights has Improved Over Time: Modeling the Changing Standard of Accountability," American Political Science Review, Cambridge University Press, vol. 108(2), pages 297-318, May.
    24. Lyall, Jason, 2010. "Are Coethnics More Effective Counterinsurgents? Evidence from the Second Chechen War," American Political Science Review, Cambridge University Press, vol. 104(1), pages 1-20, February.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Ore Koren & Bumba Mukherjee, 2022. "Integrated Militias Can Increase the Risk of Civil War Renewal," HiCN Working Papers 366, Households in Conflict Network.
    2. Naji Bsisu & Amanda Murdie, 2022. "Interventions and repression following civil conflict," Journal of Peace Research, Peace Research Institute Oslo, vol. 59(2), pages 213-228, March.
    3. Koren, Ore & Mukherjee, Bumba, 2021. "Integrated Militias Can Increase the Risk of Civil War Renewal," SocArXiv ps6mn, Center for Open Science.

    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. Bjørnskov, Christian & Pfaff, Katharina, 2021. "Differences matter: The effect of coup types on physical integrity rights," European Journal of Political Economy, Elsevier, vol. 69(C).
    2. Chelsea Estancona & Lindsay Reid, 2022. "Pro-government militias and civil war termination," Conflict Management and Peace Science, Peace Science Society (International), vol. 39(3), pages 291-310, May.
    3. Arzu Kibris & Lena Gerling, 2022. "Armed conflict exposure and trust: Evidence from a natural experiment in Turkey," HiCN Working Papers 363, Households in Conflict Network.
    4. Coupé, Tom & Obrizan, Maksym, 2016. "Violence and political outcomes in Ukraine—Evidence from Sloviansk and Kramatorsk," Journal of Comparative Economics, Elsevier, vol. 44(1), pages 201-212.
    5. Unfried, Kerstin & Ibañez Diaz, Marcela & Restrepo-Plazaz, Lina Maria, 2022. "Discrimination in post-conflict settings: Experimental evidence from Colombia," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 154(C).
    6. Ferguson, Neil T.N. & Leroch, Martin Alois, 2023. "On the behavioral impacts of violence: Evidence from incentivized games in Kenya," European Journal of Political Economy, Elsevier, vol. 78(C).
    7. Francisco Villamil, 2021. "Mobilizing memories: The social conditions of the long-term impact of victimization," Journal of Peace Research, Peace Research Institute Oslo, vol. 58(3), pages 399-416, May.
    8. Fontana, Nicola & Nannicini, Tommaso & Tabellini, Guido, 2023. "Historical roots of political extremism: The effects of Nazi occupation of Italy," Journal of Comparative Economics, Elsevier, vol. 51(3), pages 723-743.
    9. Jamie L Shenk, 2023. "Does conflict experience affect participatory democracy after war? Evidence from Colombia," Journal of Peace Research, Peace Research Institute Oslo, vol. 60(6), pages 985-1001, November.
    10. Shelley X Liu, 2022. "How war-related deprivation affects political participation: Evidence from education loss in Liberia," Journal of Peace Research, Peace Research Institute Oslo, vol. 59(3), pages 353-366, May.
    11. Tellez,Juan Fernando & Balcells,Laia, 2022. "Social Cohesion, Economic Security, and Forced Displacement in the Long-Run : Evidence from Rural Colombia," Policy Research Working Paper Series 10019, The World Bank.
    12. Mehmet Gurses & Nicolas Rost, 2013. "Sustaining the peace after ethnic civil wars," Conflict Management and Peace Science, Peace Science Society (International), vol. 30(5), pages 469-491, November.
    13. Valencia Caicedo, Felipe & Tur-Prats, Ana, 2020. "The Long Shadow of the Spanish Civil War," CEPR Discussion Papers 15091, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
    14. Toni Rodon, 2024. "The scars of violence and repression on founding elections: Evidence from Spain," Conflict Management and Peace Science, Peace Science Society (International), vol. 41(1), pages 47-71, January.
    15. Noah Buckley & Ora John Reuter & Michael Rochlitz & Anton Aisin, 2020. "Staying Out of Trouble: Criminal Cases Against Russian Mayors," Bremen Papers on Economics & Innovation 2013, University of Bremen, Faculty of Business Studies and Economics.
    16. Alacevich, Caterina & Zejcirovic, Dijana, 2020. "Does violence against civilians depress voter turnout? Evidence from Bosnia and Herzegovina," Journal of Comparative Economics, Elsevier, vol. 48(4), pages 841-865.
    17. Michal Bauer & Christopher Blattman & Julie Chytilová & Joseph Henrich & Edward Miguel & Tamar Mitts, 2016. "Can War Foster Cooperation?," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 30(3), pages 249-274, Summer.
    18. Kimberly R Frugé, 2019. "Repressive agent defections: How power, costs, and uncertainty influence military behavior and state repression," Conflict Management and Peace Science, Peace Science Society (International), vol. 36(6), pages 591-607, November.
    19. Jacqueline H.R. DeMeritt & Joseph K Young, 2013. "A political economy of human rights: Oil, natural gas, and state incentives to repress1," Conflict Management and Peace Science, Peace Science Society (International), vol. 30(2), pages 99-120, April.
    20. Jia LI & Takahiro ITO & Ramila USOOF-THOWFEEK & Koji YAMAZAKI, 2021. "The scars of the Eelam War: Eroded trust, heightened ethnic identity, and political legacies in north-eastern Sri Lanka," GSICS Working Paper Series 38, Graduate School of International Cooperation Studies, Kobe University.

    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:compsc:v:38:y:2021:i:3:p:247-269. 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.