Diffusion of Conflict-related Sexual Violence

• In Event: Gendered Implications of War

Abstract

How does sexual violence in one country’s conflict affect the type of violence we observe in a neighboring country? I argue that reports of sexual violence in one country’s internal conflict increases the likelihood that there will be reports of sexual violence in neighoring countries’ conflicts. I contend that the practice of sexual violence spreads from conflict to conflict through belligerents’ use of foreign fighters. There are two primary reasons: 1) When armed actors lack social bonds, they are more likely to perpetrate sexual violence. Following the introduction of foreign fighters armed actors need to build cohesion between local and foreign fighters, increasing the likelihood of sexual violence; 2) Fighters socialized in conflicts in which their own or other troops perpetrated sexual violence are more likely to have internalized the practice. Subsequently they are also more likely to continue the practice when fighting in other conflicts. I test this argument using the updated Sexual Violence in Armed Conflict dataset. The results provide robust support for the argument. This presents an important refinement of traditional rationalist conflict bargaining theories and opens new avenues for the research and practice of conflict management.

Author

• Robert Ulrich Nagel, University of Kent