Can You Home Again? Desertion and Control of Hometowns in Civil Wars

What allows an armed group in a civil war to prevent desertion? This paper addresses this question with a focus on control in the rearguard. Most past studies focus on motivations for desertion. They explain desertion in terms of where soldiers stand in relation to the macro themes of the war, or in terms of an inability to provide positive incentives to overcome the collective action problem. However, since individuals decide whether and how to participate in civil wars for multiple reasons, responding to a variety of local conditions in an environment of threat and violence, a focus only on macro-level motivations is incomplete. The opportunities side of the ledger deserves more attention. I therefore turn my attention to how control by an armed group eliminates soldiers��� opportunities to desert. In particular, I consider the control that an armed group maintains over soldiers��� hometowns, treating geographic terrain as an important exogenous indicator of the ease of control. Rough terrain at home affords soldiers and their families and friends advantages in ease of hiding, the difficulty of using force, and local knowledge. Based on an original dataset of soldiers from Santander Province in the Spanish Civil War, gathered from archival sources, I find statistical evidence that the rougher the terrain in a soldier���s home municipality, the more likely he is to desert. I find complementary qualitative evidence indicating that soldiers from rough-terrain communities took active advantage of their greater opportunities for evasion. This finding has important implications for the way observers interpret different soldiers��� decisions to desert or remain fighting, for the prospect that structural factors may shape the cohesion of armed groups, and for the possibility that local knowledge may be a double-edged sword, making soldiers simultaneously good at fighting and good at deserting.

Does Warfare Matter? Severity, Duration, and Outcomes of Civil Wars

Importa si una guerra civil es combat com un conflicte irregular, convencional o sim��tric no convencional? En altres paraules, tenen les ���tecnologies de la rebel��li����� un impacte sobre la gravetat d���una guerra, la seva durada o el seu resultat? Aquest treball mostra que els conflictes irregulars duren m��s que els altres tipus de conflicte, mentre els convencionals tendeixen a ser m��s greus en termes de letalitat al camp de batalla. D���altra banda, els conflictes irregulars tendeixen a ser guanyats pels governs, mentre els altres s��n m��s propensos a acabar en empat. Substancialment, aquests resultats ens ajuden a donar sentit a l���evoluci�� de les guerres civils, les quals tendeixen a ser m��s curtes, m��s intenses i m��s dif��cils per als governs. Te��ricament, aquests resultats donen suport a la import��ncia de la tecnologia de rebel��li�� a l���estudiar la gravetat, la durada i els resultats de les guerres civils; a m��s, contribueixen a una millor comprensi�� de la contribuci�� hist��rica de la guerra irregular a la construcci�� de l���Estat i al canvi social.

Ethnic Polarization, Potential Conflict, and Civil Wars

This paper analyzes the relationship between ethnic fractionalization, polarization, and conflict. In recent years many authors have found empirical evidence that ethnic fractionalization has a negative effect on growth. One mechanism that can explain this nexus is the effect of ethnic heterogeneity on rent-seeking activities and the increase in potential conflict, which is negative for investment. However the empirical evidence supporting the effect of ethnic fractionalization on the incidence of civil conflicts is very weak. Although ethnic fractionalization may be important for growth, we argue that the channel is not through an increase in potential ethnic conflict. We discuss the appropriateness of indices of polarization to capture conflictive dimensions. We develop a new measure of ethnic heterogeneity that satisfies the basic properties associated with the concept of polarization. The empirical section shows that this index of ethnic polarization is a significant variable in the explanation of the incidence of civil wars. This result is robust to the presence of other indicators of ethnic heterogeneity, other sources of data for the construction of the index, and other data structures.

Ethnic polarization, potential conflict and civil wars

This paper analyzes the relationship between ethnic fractionalization, polarization, and conflict. In recent years many authors have found empirical evidence that ethnic fractionalization has a negative effect on growth. One mechanism that can explain this nexus is the effect of ethnic heterogeneity on rent-seeking activities and the increase in potential conflict, which is negative for investment. However the empirical evidence supporting the effect of ethnic fractionalization on the incidence of civil conflicts is very weak. Although ethnic fractionalization may be important for growth, we argue that the channel is not through an increase in potential ethnic conflict. We discuss the appropriateness of indices of polarization to capture conflictive dimensions. We develop a new measure of ethnic heterogeneity that satisfies the basic properties associated with the concept of polarization. The empirical section shows that this index of ethnic polarization is a significant variable in the explanation of the incidence of civil wars. This result is robust to the presence of other indicators of ethnic heterogeneity, other sources of data for the construction of the index, and other data structures.

Recollections of a Virginian in the mexican, indian, and civil wars

UANL

An Ardent Flame: Witness to Distant Suffering, Human Rights and Unworthy Victims in the Coverage by <i>The New York Times</i> and Two Journals of the Religious Left of the 1980s Civil Wars in El Salvador and Nicaragua

Scholars have investigated witness to distant suffering (WTDS) almost entirely in visual media. This study examines it in print. This form of reporting will be examined in two publications of the religious left as contrasted with the New York Times. The thesis is that, more than any technology, WTDS consists of the journalist���s moral commitment and narrative skills and the audience���s analytical resources and trust. In the religious journals, liberation theology provides the moral commitment, the writers and editors the narrative skills and trust and the special vision of the newly empowered poor the analytical foundation. In bearing witness to those who have suffered state or guerilla terrorism in El Salvador and Nicaragua during the 1980s, we will investigate a distinction between ���worthy��� and ���unworthy victims.��� This last issue has a special ethical and political significance. Media witnessing to the suffering of strangers can help them become known, and so ���worthy.��� It can help them, and their plight and cause, become better recognized. This is the power of the media.

The history of the Rebellion and civil wars in England begun in the year 1641,

Mode of access: Internet.

The adventures of a soldier; or, Memoirs ... comprising narratives of the campaigns in the Peninsular [!] under the Duke of Wellington, and the recent civil wars in Spain.

Mode of access: Internet.

A history of the English church during the Civil Wars and under the Commonwealth, 1640-1660

Mode of access: Internet.

The history of Appian of Alexandria, in two parts. The first consisting of the Punick, Syrian, Parthian, Mithridatick, Illyrian, Spanish, & Hannibalick wars. The second containing five books of the civil wars of Rome.

Mode of access: Internet.

The Commonwealth of England; documents of the English civil wars, the Commonwealth and Protectorate, 1641-1660,

Mode of access: Internet.

Lives of the warriors of the civil wars of France and England [microform]. Warriors of the seventeenth century.

Paged continuously.

The history of the rebellion and civil wars in England, begun in the year 1641. : With the precedent passages, and actions, that contributed thereunto, and the happy end, and conclusion thereof by the King's blessed restoration, and return, upon the 29th of May, in the year 1660. /

According to Lowndes the edition of 1731 known as the "Masters' ed." was illustrated, but the plates, portraits, and maps are the same as those issued in The Lord Clarendon's History of the Grand Rebellion Compleated. London, 1717.