IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/sae/jocore/v67y2023i7-8p1325-1349.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Your Reputation Precedes You: Ceasefires and Cooperative Credibility During Civil Conflict

Author

Listed:
  • Corinne Bara
  • Govinda Clayton

Abstract

How does the state’s behavior in negotiations with one non-state group influence the behavior of other non-state actors? We argue that the dynamics of different conflicts within the same country are interdependent, and that a state develops a reputation through its interactions with each conflict party. This reputation provides a valuable source of information that other groups use to judge the state’s cooperative intentions. When a state develops a reputation for cooperation, this increases the likelihood of (indirect) reciprocation from other groups. More specifically, we argue that when states enter into (and honor) a ceasefire with one rebel group, they demonstrate a credible reputation for cooperation. A credible reputation for cooperation, we posit, increases the likelihood that other conflict parties enter into ceasefires with the state, or that they de-escalate their military activities. We test our claims using the new civil conflict ceasefire dataset and find support for our argument.

Suggested Citation

  • Corinne Bara & Govinda Clayton, 2023. "Your Reputation Precedes You: Ceasefires and Cooperative Credibility During Civil Conflict," Journal of Conflict Resolution, Peace Science Society (International), vol. 67(7-8), pages 1325-1349, August.
    • Handle: RePEc:sae:jocore:v:67:y:2023:i:7-8:p:1325-1349
    DOI: 10.1177/00220027221126725
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/00220027221126725
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1177/00220027221126725?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. Cunningham, Kathleen Gallagher, 2011. "Divide and Conquer or Divide and Concede: How Do States Respond to Internally Divided Separatists?," American Political Science Review, Cambridge University Press, vol. 105(2), pages 275-297, May.
    2. Carlos Cinelli & Chad Hazlett, 2020. "Making sense of sensitivity: extending omitted variable bias," Journal of the Royal Statistical Society Series B, Royal Statistical Society, vol. 82(1), pages 39-67, February.
    3. Carl Shapiro, 1983. "Premiums for High Quality Products as Returns to Reputations," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 98(4), pages 659-679.
    4. Barbara F. Walter, 2006. "Building Reputation: Why Governments Fight Some Separatists but Not Others," American Journal of Political Science, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 50(2), pages 313-330, April.
    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. 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.
    2. Jessica Maves Braithwaite & Kathleen Gallagher Cunningham, 2024. "Backgrounds With Benefits? Rebel Group Origins and Concessions During Civil Wars in Africa," Journal of Conflict Resolution, Peace Science Society (International), vol. 68(9), pages 1691-1716, October.
    3. Lesley-Ann Daniels, 2020. "How and When Amnesty during Conflict Affects Conflict Termination," Journal of Conflict Resolution, Peace Science Society (International), vol. 64(9), pages 1612-1637, October.
    4. Yoseph, Nir Shlomo, 2018. "The Impact of Environmental Fraud on the Used Car Market: Evidence from Dieselgate," CEPR Discussion Papers 12899, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
    5. Haikun Zhu, 2018. "Social Stability and Resource Allocation within Business Groups," Working Papers Series 79, Institute for New Economic Thinking.
    6. Villas-Boas, Sofia B, 2020. "Reduced Form Evidence on Belief Updating Under Asymmetric Information," Department of Agricultural & Resource Economics, UC Berkeley, Working Paper Series qt08c456vk, Department of Agricultural & Resource Economics, UC Berkeley.
    7. Claire Chambolle & Eric Giraud‐Héraud, 2005. "Certification of Origin as a Non‐Tariff Barrier," Review of International Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 13(3), pages 461-471, August.
    8. Tahir Andrabi & Jishnu Das & Asim Ijaz Khwaja, 2017. "Report Cards: The Impact of Providing School and Child Test Scores on Educational Markets," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 107(6), pages 1535-1563, June.
    9. Benito Arruñada, 2020. "Prospects of Blockchain in Contract and Property," Springer Books, in: Amnon Lehavi & Ronit Levine-Schnur (ed.), Disruptive Technology, Legal Innovation, and the Future of Real Estate, edition 1, pages 35-55, Springer.
    10. Hanne Fjelde & Desirée Nilsson, 2018. "The rise of rebel contenders," Journal of Peace Research, Peace Research Institute Oslo, vol. 55(5), pages 551-565, September.
    11. Anna Nagurney & Dong Li, 2014. "Equilibria and dynamics of supply chain network competition with information asymmetry in quality and minimum quality standards," Computational Management Science, Springer, vol. 11(3), pages 285-315, July.
    12. Lamberova, Natalia, 2021. "The puzzling politics of R&D: Signaling competence through risky projects," Journal of Comparative Economics, Elsevier, vol. 49(3), pages 801-818.
    13. John R. Bowblis & Andrew Ghattas, 2017. "The Impact of Minimum Quality Standard Regulations on Nursing Home Staffing, Quality, and Exit Decisions," Review of Industrial Organization, Springer;The Industrial Organization Society, vol. 50(1), pages 43-68, February.
    14. Minzyuk, Larysa, 2010. "The development of non-monetary means of payment," MPRA Paper 28167, University Library of Munich, Germany, revised 2010.
    15. Luisa Menapace & GianCarlo Moschini, 2012. "Quality certification by geographical indications, trademarks and firm reputation," European Review of Agricultural Economics, Oxford University Press and the European Agricultural and Applied Economics Publications Foundation, vol. 39(4), pages 539-566, September.
    16. Michelle Haynes & Steve Thompson, 2012. "The Economic Significance of User-Generated Feedback," International Journal of the Economics of Business, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 19(1), pages 153-166, February.
    17. Steenkamp, J-B.E.M. & Nijs, V.R. & Hanssens, D.M. & Dekimpe, M.G., 2002. "Competitive Reactions and the Cross-Sales Effects of Advertising and Promotion," ERIM Report Series Research in Management ERS-2002-20-MKT, Erasmus Research Institute of Management (ERIM), ERIM is the joint research institute of the Rotterdam School of Management, Erasmus University and the Erasmus School of Economics (ESE) at Erasmus University Rotterdam.
    18. Yu Ding & Wayne S. DeSarbo & Dominique M. Hanssens & Kamel Jedidi & John G. Lynch & Donald R. Lehmann, 2020. "The past, present, and future of measurement and methods in marketing analysis," Marketing Letters, Springer, vol. 31(2), pages 175-186, September.
    19. John Bovay, 2025. "Shaming, stringency, and shirking: Evidence from food‐safety inspections," American Journal of Agricultural Economics, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 107(1), pages 152-180, January.
    20. Christoph Dworschak, 2024. "Bias mitigation in empirical peace and conflict studies: A short primer on posttreatment variables," Journal of Peace Research, Peace Research Institute Oslo, vol. 61(3), pages 462-476, May.

    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:67:y:2023:i:7-8:p:1325-1349. 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.