Center-Periphery Partisan Alignment and Rebel Violence: Evidence from India

• In Event: Political Causes and Personal Consequences of Violence: Research from South Asia

Abstract

Does center-periphery partisan alignment during civil war affect insurgent violence and conflict outcomes? Counterinsurgents and states often delegate authority through local democracy during civil war, but existing research is unclear about whether a locality's political alignment with the center matters for the conflict. I draw on evidence from multiple civil wars in India and test a theory arguing that this type of alignment enhances civilians' socioeconomic outcomes through improved local public goods provision, thereby increasing the opportunity costs of participating in the rebellion. I implement a regression discontinuity (RD) design and utilize qualitative evidence to study these effects in the Sikh insurgency in Punjab, the Naxalite rebellion in Chhattisgarh and Jharkhand, and insurgent conflict in India's northeast.

Author

• Drew Stommes, Yale University