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Counterinsurgency Tactics, Rebel Grievances, and Who Keeps Fighting

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  07 March 2023

CONNOR HUFF Open the ORCID record for CONNOR HUFF [Opens in a new window]
CONNOR HUFF*
Affiliation:
Rice University, United States
*
Connor Huff, Assistant Professor, Department of Political Science, Rice University, United States, connor.huff@rice.edu.
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Abstract

How do government counterinsurgency tactics shape the behavior of the rebels they are combating? This letter builds upon foundational theories of civil war to argue that within-conflict government actions can further increase rebels’ levels of grievances. This increases the likelihood rebels continue fighting as conflicts unfold. I test the argument using newly compiled individual-level data on over 1,700 members of the Irish Volunteers and Irish Citizen Army who participated in the 1916 Easter Rising. Rebels varied in whether they were interned after the uprising. I show that rebels who were interned were more likely to fight throughout the entire Irish War of Independence. Qualitative evidence corroborates the contention that internment increased rebels’ levels of grievances. The letter elucidates how within-conflict events shape rebel behavior, by documenting how the tactics governments employ as they fight can shape the subsequent actions of the rebels they are combating.

Type
Letter
Information
American Political Science Review , Volume 118 , Issue 1 , February 2024 , pp. 475 - 480
Copyright
© The Author(s), 2023. Published by Cambridge University Press on behalf of the American Political Science Association

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https://doi.org/10.7910/DVN/I2HEVQ
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