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Attacks on Civilians in Civil War: Targeting the Achilles Heel of Democratic Governments

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  • Lisa Hultman

Abstract

Previous research has indicated that democracy decreases the risk of armed conflict, while increasing the likelihood of terrorist attacks, but we know little about the effect of democracy on violence against civilians in ongoing civil conflicts. This study seeks to fill this empirical gap in the research on democracy and political violence, by examining all rebel groups involved in an armed conflict 1989--2004. Using different measures of democracy, the results demonstrate that rebels target more civilians when facing a democratic (or semi-democratic) government. Democracies are perceived as particularly vulnerable to attacks on the population, since civilians can hold the government accountable for failures to provide security, and this provides incentives for rebels to target civilians. At the same time, the openness of democratic societies provides opportunities for carrying out violent attacks. Thus, the strength of democracy—its accountability and openness—can become an Achilles heel during an internal armed conflict.

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  • Lisa Hultman, 2012. "Attacks on Civilians in Civil War: Targeting the Achilles Heel of Democratic Governments," International Interactions, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 38(2), pages 164-181, April.
    • Handle: RePEc:taf:ginixx:v:38:y:2012:i:2:p:164-181
    DOI: 10.1080/03050629.2012.657602
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    Cited by:

    1. Anderton Charles H. & Carter John R., 2015. "A New Look at Weak State Conditions and Genocide Risk," Peace Economics, Peace Science, and Public Policy, De Gruyter, vol. 21(1), pages 1-36, January.
    2. Austin L. Wright, 2016. "Economic Shocks and Rebel," HiCN Working Papers 232, Households in Conflict Network.
    3. Karin Johansson & Mehwish Sarwari, 2019. "Sexual violence and biased military interventions in civil conflict1," Conflict Management and Peace Science, Peace Science Society (International), vol. 36(5), pages 469-493, September.
    4. Cyanne E. Loyle & Helga Malmin Binningsbø, 2018. "Justice during Armed Conflict," Journal of Conflict Resolution, Peace Science Society (International), vol. 62(2), pages 442-466, February.
    5. J. M. Quinn, 2015. "Territorial contestation and repressive violence in civil war," Defence and Peace Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 26(5), pages 536-554, October.
    6. Anderton Charles H., 2014. "Killing Civilians as an Inferior Input in a Rational Choice Model of Genocide and Mass Killing," Peace Economics, Peace Science, and Public Policy, De Gruyter, vol. 20(2), pages 1-20, April.
    7. Robert Ulrich Nagel, 2021. "Gendered preferences: How women’s inclusion in society shapes negotiation occurrence in intrastate conflicts," Journal of Peace Research, Peace Research Institute Oslo, vol. 58(3), pages 433-448, May.

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