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Territorial contestation and repressive violence in civil war

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  • J. M. Quinn

Abstract

This study models the structural sources of variation in the use of selective (discriminate) repression within 89 civil wars fought between 1981 and 2005. The severity of repressive violence is modeled as a function of the amount of territory being contested by the insurgents. This idea is operationalized using measures of the location, size, and density of insurgency violence. The analysis finds evidence that the repressive behavior of both governments and rebel groups is linked to conflict geography. Governments violate physical integrity rights more frequently and kill more civilians the greater the overall amount of territory under contestation. Rebels kill more civilians in highly dispersed insurgencies that lack a clear epicenter.

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  • J. M. Quinn, 2015. "Territorial contestation and repressive violence in civil war," Defence and Peace Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 26(5), pages 536-554, October.
    • Handle: RePEc:taf:defpea:v:26:y:2015:i:5:p:536-554
    DOI: 10.1080/10242694.2014.925677
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    Cited by:

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    2. Therese Anders, 2020. "Territorial control in civil wars: Theory and measurement using machine learning," Journal of Peace Research, Peace Research Institute Oslo, vol. 57(6), pages 701-714, November.
    3. Jordan Adamson, 2021. "The scope of political jurisdictions and violence: theory and evidence from Africa," Public Choice, Springer, vol. 186(3), pages 467-490, March.

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