Logo: to the web site of Uppsala University

uu.sePublications from Uppsala University
Change search
ExportLink to record
Permanent link

Direct link
BETA

Project

Project type/Form of grant
Project grant
Title [sv]
Krigets många ansikten: Att förstå hur konflikter hänger samman
Title [en]
Conflicts, Connections, Complexities: Towards a Multi-layered Understanding of Civil War
Abstract [en]
Currently, a few extremely violent civil wars – such as those in Syria, Iraq, Afghanistan, and South Sudan – are so devastating that together they represent the vast majority of all people killed in armed conflict each year. Although these civil wars are distributed across several continents and have their roots in a diverse set of grievances they all share one important attribute: these civil wars do not only consist of a struggle between a government and rebels, but tend to comprise an interlocking patchwork of conflicts between rivalling political actors on several different levels. However, the literature on peace and conflict research has largely failed to examine why some civil wars become complex interlinked patchworks of different conflict types while others do not. The purpose of the project is to contribute to filling this gap by exploring the following research question: why and how do some state-based armed conflicts become inter-linked with other types of conflicts, and how does this influence the resolution of these conflicts? In particular, this project will provide key insights into the inter-linkages between state-based armed conflict and three forms of organized violence that commonly plague civil wars: 1) communal conflicts between ethno-linguistic groups; 2) conflicts between rebel actors, and 3) cross-border conflicts.The project seeks to develop a theoretical framework that focuses on conflict inter-linkages, paying attention to both actor characteristics, such as ethnic ties between actors, and structural factors, including political institutions. We will use quantitative and qualitative methods combined to address this pivotal research question. The qualitative analyses will consist of in-depth case studies (within and between case comparisons) of Syria and Lebanon, and Sudan and South Sudan, respectively, which will be instrumental to tease out the causal mechanisms and help us validate and develop our theoretical framework. The quantitative analyses will utilize unique disaggregated civil war data, which will allow us to map out and explore patterns of inter-linkages between these different types of conflicts across cases and over time.
Publications (1 of 1) Show all publications
Fjelde, H. & Nilsson, D. (2018). The Rise of Rebel Contenders: Barriers to entry and fragmentation in civil wars. Journal of Peace Research, 55(5), 551-565
Open this publication in new window or tab >>The Rise of Rebel Contenders: Barriers to entry and fragmentation in civil wars
2018 (English)In: Journal of Peace Research, ISSN 0022-3433, E-ISSN 1460-3578, Vol. 55, no 5, p. 551-565Article in journal (Refereed) Published
Abstract [sv]

Fragmentation of armed opposition movements through the rise of new rebel groups constitutes a significant challenge to conflict termination and peacebuilding. Yet, the question of why some rebel movements remain cohesive whereas others see a number of contending groups during the course of the armed conflict has received limited attention in existing research. This article addresses this gap by analyzing the determinants of the rise of rebel contenders in intrastate armed conflicts worldwide, 1975–2013. The theoretical framework focuses on barriers to entry, that is, variations in the costs and disadvantages that must be borne by nascent rebel contenders that are not borne to the same extent by incumbent rebel groups. The study proposes that strong social networks underpinning incumbent groups create structural barriers to entry for nascent groups by aggravating challenges of organization building. It further suggests that the interaction between incumbent groups and the government influences strategic barriers to entry as changes in government policies produce windows of opportunity for nascent groups to form. Consistent with these arguments, the study finds that when incumbent groups have strong networks – because rebels either tap into ethnic networks or draw on a leftist ideology – the risk of fragmentation is lower. Furthermore, when the government accommodates groups, through either negotiations or democratic concessions, the risk of fragmentation increases.

Place, publisher, year, edition, pages
Sage Publications, 2018
National Category
Political Science (excluding Public Administration Studies and Globalisation Studies)
Research subject
Peace and Conflict Research
Identifiers
urn:nbn:se:uu:diva-337943 (URN)10.1177/0022343318767497 (DOI)000441283400001 ()
Funder
Swedish Research Council, 2015-01235Swedish Research Council, 421-2009-1833Riksbankens Jubileumsfond, NHS 14-1701:1Swedish Research Council, Norska forskningsrådet, 250-441
Available from: 2018-01-05 Created: 2018-01-05 Last updated: 2023-01-17Bibliographically approved
Principal InvestigatorNilsson, Desirée
Co-InvestigatorBrosché, Johan
Co-InvestigatorSundberg, Ralph
Coordinating organisation
Uppsala University
Funder
Period
2016-01-01 - 2019-12-31
National Category
Political Science
Identifiers
DiVA, id: project:1932Project, id: 2015-01235

Search in DiVA

Political Science

Search outside of DiVA

GoogleGoogle Scholar