Rebel Institutions and Peace Agreements in Civil War

• In Event: Rebel and Government Institutions in Civil War

Abstract

Recent scholarship has noted that rebels create institutions during the course of civil war. These institutions, usually combined into the categories of “rebel governance” or “service provision,” rarely consider the different implications of varying institutions. Some institutions like health care or infrastructure projects have an immediate impact on civilians’ lives, and also can improve the rebels fighting capability by ensuring a healthy pool of potential recruits or infrastructure to maneuver their fighters. Other institutions, however, have a deeper impact on civilian social structure. Justice institutions, laws and education all have the potential of restructuring the underlying norms of civilian interaction. While these institutions have limited advantages in the short-term military arena, they do have a long-term impact of normalizing the rebels’ goals. As a result, these institutions give rebels the ability to maintain their struggle long-term. This paper uses new data on rebel institutions that captures not only a wide variety of institutions but also how long rebels provided them. It argues that rebels who create justice, law and education institutions create a commitment problem that prevents peace agreements from being signed.

Author

• Karen Albert, University of Rochester