A Cause to Fight, Ideological Motivation in Civil Wars: British Battalion in Spain

• In Event: Political Economy of War: Theories and Implications

Abstract

Materialist explanations have dominated quantitative scholarship on the causes and conduct of civil wars. And yet, a substantial body of qualitative, historical, and ethnographic evidence suggests non-material, ideological, motives contribute to both individuals' choice to enter combat and their performance on the battlefield. We develop a model of recruitment in a civil war where potential fighters trade-off ideological and material incentives in making an enlistment decision. More ideologically motivated individuals are: (i) more willing to trade-off income to enlist; (ii) more likely to exert high effort when in combat; and (iii) are less responsive to changes to enlistment costs. Using detailed biographical data describing the political affiliations, occupations, and performance of members of the British Battalion of the Republican Army in the Spanish Civil War, we find support for all three implications of our model. That is, we find evidence that ideology is a cause to fight and fight hard.

Authors

• Xiaoyan Qiu, Washington University in St. Louis

• Scott Abramson, University of Rochester