Rebel Rule to Campaign Tool: The Peacetime Implications of Rebel Governance

• In Event: Rebel Governance, Institutions, and Legitimacy

Abstract

During war, rebel groups often establish control over territory that they hold for extended periods of time. Whether and how rebels interact with civilians through the establishment of political institutions and use violence in these territories varies widely, from total chaos to well-run governing institutions. How do these wartime orders affect post-conflict stabilization and rebels’ transition to conventional politics? Some rebel institutions prepare rebels to govern through conventional politics better than others, with some ex-combatants having experience creating robust institutions from scratch during war, and others having more limited experience, having co-opted existing institutions or ruled through violence alone. This research project will address prospects for peace by considering armed groups’ ability to succeed in conventional politics in the wake of the social and political legacies of the war. To test the argument, I will use cross-national statistical analysis that draws upon original data on rebel wartime institutions.

Author

• Marjorie Breslawski, University of Maryland, College Park