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

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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.

Original languageEnglish
JournalConflict Management and Peace Science
Volume38
Issue number3
Pages (from-to)247-269
Number of pages23
ISSN0738-8942
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 05.2021

Bibliographical note

Publisher Copyright:
© The Author(s) 2020.

    Research areas

  • Militias, physical integrity rights violations, post-conflict, repression
  • Politics

DOI

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