Rethinking the Role of Militants in International Cooperation

• In Event: Poster Session: International Collaboration

Abstract

Conventional explanations of alliance formation – particularly the development of security partnerships and provision of military aid - have exclusively focused on interactions between state governments. However, state governments frequently engage in intense forms of military cooperation with foreign militant groups. Evidence suggests that foreign militant groups play critical roles in these partnerships, often by providing their state partners with access to their military structure, on-the-ground intelligence, logistical support, training, and – in certain cases – troops to supplement their partners’ armed forces. Although the causes and consequences of these diverse alliances have critical implications for international relations scholarship, existing literature has not systematically examined the intensity and diversity of these partnerships. This article draws from the Integrated Crisis Early Warning System (ICEWS) events data set to systematically examine the different types of dyadic interactions between state governments and foreign militant groups from 1995-2017. I find that, on average, state and foreign militant groups engage in more intense forms of security cooperation than state-state dyads. Notably, state and foreign militant partners form joint commands, carry out joint attacks, and participate in training exercises, at relatively higher rates than state-state dyads. Using two illustrative case studies of U.S. provision of support to Syrian rebel coalitions and Hezbollah's partnership with Russia, Syria, and Iran, I develop potential explanations for these surprising findings.

Author

• Melissa Anne Carlson, University of California, Berkeley