Doctoral Dissertation Research in Political Science: Counterinsurgent Militias and the Dynamics of Civil Wars

反叛乱民兵是内战中除国家或反叛军队以外的第三个行动者，在许多内战中发挥了重要作用，包括在莫桑比克（1976-1992年）和塞拉利昂（1991-2002年）。反叛乱民兵是对平民施暴的主要肇事者。然而，我们对民兵如何随着内战的展开而出现和演变缺乏系统的了解。该项目介绍了反叛乱民兵的新定义和类型学，并使用一个分析框架，强调民兵，反叛团体，国家部队和平民之间的社会互动，研究民兵的出现，组织形式和演变。研究表明，民兵的出现受到存在的安全威胁类型以及受威胁社区中国家存在或不存在的影响。民兵组织的形成取决于其社会基础的广泛性及其在国家一级对政治精英的自治程度。该项目试图解释民兵组织形式随着时间的推移而发生的变化，并参照其在平定领土方面的成功，研究以莫桑比克和塞拉利昂12个月实地工作期间收集的人种学和档案数据为基础，以进一步阐述初步理论，并对照其他解释对其进行检验。该研究设计包括在莫桑比克政府与莫桑比克解放阵线和反叛军莫桑比克全国抵抗运动之间以及在塞拉利昂政府与革命联合阵线之间的内战中对反叛乱民兵进行跨国、次国家和案例内的比较。该项目从三个方面增强了科学理解。首先，内战的研究过于以国家为中心，因为内战的经典形象是由寻求夺取国家权力的叛乱驱动的。这个项目研究了一个在以前的内战比较研究中被忽视的决定性角色。第二，许多研究工作与内战中的武装团体的静态概念，缺乏对组织变革的理解。通过关注反叛乱民兵，其组织形式在内战过程中变化很大的行为者，这个项目可以理论化武装团体的组织变化。第三，这个项目的影响，了解内战的动态在微观层面上，如成员基础，暴力模式，以及不同的武装组织的领土控制水平。这也影响了我们对宏观层面动态的理解？内战的持续时间和结果。例如，民兵可以增加或减少暴力程度，这取决于他们是否成功打击反叛团体或招致报复。此外，他们可能会延长内战，增加了冲突中的利益相关者的数量。加强我们对反叛乱民兵现象的理解有助于预防、管理和解决暴力冲突，并在内战结束后促进稳定和发展。更好地了解一些民兵为何以及何时对平民采取暴力行为，可以为维持和平部队和内战调解人的政策提供参考。更好地了解内战结束后民兵对安全的影响状况，可以指导寻求可行的和平协定和全面复员努力。该项目将包括与莫桑比克、塞拉利昂和美国的研究人员和政策分析人员举办讲习班，以提高对民兵的认识，并为冲突管理和解决政策提供信息。

Counterinsurgent militias--third actors in civil wars other than state or rebel armies--have played a strong part in many civil wars, including in Mozambique (1976-1992) and Sierra Leone (1991-2002). Counterinsurgent militias have been among the main perpetrators of violence against civilians. Yet we lack systematic understanding of how militias emerge and evolve as civil war unfolds. This project introduces a new definition and typology of counterinsurgent militias and uses an analytic framework emphasizing the social interactions between militias, rebel groups, state forces, and civilians to study militia emergence, organizational form and evolution. The research proposes that militia emergence is influenced by the type of security threat that exists and the presence or absence of the state in threatened communities. Militia organization is shaped by the breadth of its social base and the degree of its autonomy from political elites on the national level. The project seeks to explain change in the organizational form of a militia over time with reference to its success to pacify territories.The research builds on ethnographic and archival data that will be collected during twelve months of fieldwork in Mozambique and Sierra Leone to further elaborate the initial theory and test it against alternative explanations. The research design includes cross-national, sub-national and within-case comparisons of counterinsurgent militias in the civil wars in Mozambique between the government Frente de Libertação de Moçambique, Frelimo, and the rebel army Resistência Nacional Moçambicana, Renamo, and in Sierra Leone between the government and the Revolutionary United Front (RUF).The project enhances scientific understanding in three ways. First, the study of civil wars has been overly state-centric due to the classic image of civil wars as driven by insurgencies seeking to capture state power. This project examines a decisive actor neglected in previous comparative research on civil war. Second, many studies work with a static conception of armed groups in civil war and lack an understanding of organizational change. By focusing on counterinsurgent militias, actors whose organizational forms vary considerably in the course of a civil war, this project can theorize organizational change of armed groups. Third, this project has implications for understanding the dynamics of civil war on the micro level such as the membership base, patterns of violence, and level of territorial control of different armed organizations. It also affects our understanding of the dynamics on the macro level?the duration and outcome of civil wars. For instance, militias can increase or decrease the level of violence, depending on whether they succeed against rebel groups or attract retaliation. Also, they may lengthen civil wars by increasing the number of actors with a stake in the conflict.In addition, this research makes several broader contributions. Enhancing our understanding of the phenomenon of counterinsurgent militias can help prevent, manage, and resolve violent conflict and promote stability and development when civil wars come to an end. A better understanding of why and when some militias turn to violence against civilians can inform policies for peacekeeping forces and mediators in civil wars. A better understanding of the conditions of the impact of militias on security after the end civil wars can guide the search for workable peace agreements and comprehensive demobilization efforts. The project will include workshops with researchers and policy analysts in Mozambique, Sierra Leone, and the US to enhance knowledge about militias and to inform policies for conflict management and resolution.