The legacy of war: The effect of militias on postwar repression
Publikation: Beiträge in Zeitschriften › Zeitschriftenaufsätze › Forschung › begutachtet
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in: Conflict Management and Peace Science, Jahrgang 38, Nr. 3, 05.2021, S. 247-269.
Publikation: Beiträge in Zeitschriften › Zeitschriftenaufsätze › Forschung › begutachtet
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RIS
TY - JOUR
T1 - The legacy of war
T2 - The effect of militias on postwar repression
AU - Carey, Sabine C.
AU - González, Belén
N1 - Publisher Copyright: © The Author(s) 2020.
PY - 2021/5
Y1 - 2021/5
N2 - 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.
AB - 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.
KW - Militias
KW - physical integrity rights violations
KW - post-conflict
KW - repression
KW - Politics
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85079401767&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1177/0738894219899006
DO - 10.1177/0738894219899006
M3 - Journal articles
AN - SCOPUS:85079401767
VL - 38
SP - 247
EP - 269
JO - Conflict Management and Peace Science
JF - Conflict Management and Peace Science
SN - 0738-8942
IS - 3
ER -