Collaborative Research: Cooperation in Multi-Dyadic Civil Conflicts

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Civil conflicts impose significant human, economic, and political costs on the countries involved and the broader regions affected. This is particularly true when conflicts involve multiple rebel groups (i.e., multi-dyadic conflicts). This project advances knowledge of multi-dyadic civil conflict dynamics and resolution by evaluating how government-rebel cooperation shapes opportunities for conflict resolution and violence reduction. It contributes to ongoing debates among policymakers and scholars about the dynamics of war and the nature and sustainability of post-conflict peace, speaking to fundamental questions of national security and the prosperity and welfare of countries currently embroiled in civil conflicts around the world. The project provides novel cross-country data compatible with leading civil war datasets, providing a valuable tool to advance cutting-edge research on civil conflict. Moreover, The project also provides training and mentorship opportunities for undergraduate and graduate students. Understanding the dynamics of cooperation between adversaries will improve evaluation and forecasting of (in)stability. The PIs integrative approach to cooperation provides insights into when cooperation signals meaningful shifts in conflict dynamics and prospects for long-term peace.The project involves three central aims: (1) to create a comprehensive dataset on cooperation between combatants in multi-dyadic civil wars, (2) to assess the impact of past cooperation on future cooperation and conflict resolution, and (3) to evaluate the impact of past cooperation on future conflict. To achieve aim 1, the PIs create the Cooperation in Civil War: Multi-Dyadic Conflicts Dataset (CCW-MC). CCW-MC covers 12 countries that have experienced the most complex civil conflicts in the post-cold war period. These novel data will capture the full evolution of dyadic cooperation from initial requests to final implementation. Using these data, the PIs test novel theoretical expectations (aims 2 and 3) about how the legacies of past cooperative attempts, both within a government-rebel group dyad and gleaned from observing other dyads in the country, influence subsequent cooperative and conflictual outcomes. Using network analysis, the PIs examine the influence of other active rebel groups on this evolution of cooperation and conflict. By engaging with the multi-dyadic context of these civil wars, the project explicitly takes each dyad's context into consideration when theorizing about and evaluating the role of cooperation. This project addresses a critical gap by examining the evolution of cooperation within and across government-rebel group dyads in multi-dyadic civil conflicts. It will provide novel insights into how cooperation diffuses across dyads, how past attempts at cooperation influence subsequent cooperative efforts, and how cooperation of one form influences subsequent cooperation of another form. The project advances research on conflict management and settlement by treating cooperation as an iterative process that reveals unique information about combatant credibility that cannot be revealed on the battlefield.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.