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Mobilizing the Masses for Genocide

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  • Thorsten Rogall

Abstract

Do political elites use armed groups to foster civilian participation in genocidal violence? Are armed groups employed strategically? How do they mobilize civilians? I investigate these questions using data from the Rwandan Genocide. To establish causality, I exploit exogenous variation in armed groups' transport costs induced by weather fluctuations: the shortest distance of each village to the main road interacted with rainfall along the dirt tracks between main road and village. I find (i) 1 additional armed-group member resulted in 7.3 more civilian perpetrators; (ii) armed-group leaders employed their men strategically; and (iii) armed groups invoked civilians' obedience.

Suggested Citation

  • Thorsten Rogall, 2021. "Mobilizing the Masses for Genocide," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 111(1), pages 41-72, January.
    • Handle: RePEc:aea:aecrev:v:111:y:2021:i:1:p:41-72
    DOI: 10.1257/aer.20160999
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Skaperdas, Stergios, 1992. "Cooperation, Conflict, and Power in the Absence of Property Rights," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 82(4), pages 720-739, September.
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    Citations

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    Cited by:

    1. Mathias Bühler & Andreas Madestam, 2023. "State Repression, Exit, and Voice," Rationality and Competition Discussion Paper Series 408, CRC TRR 190 Rationality and Competition.
    2. He, Xiaoyu & Mei, Yixin, 2024. "Can arms breed peace? The consequence of arms imports from the US on civil wars," Journal of Comparative Economics, Elsevier, vol. 52(1), pages 207-229.
    3. Becker, Sascha O. & Mukand, Sharun & Yotzov, Ivan, 2022. "Persecution, pogroms and genocide: A conceptual framework and new evidence," Explorations in Economic History, Elsevier, vol. 86(C).
    4. Sugata Ghosh & Petros G. Sekeris & Shikha Silwal, 2025. "The political economy of group domination and pre-electoral violence," Journal of Population Economics, Springer;European Society for Population Economics, vol. 38(4), pages 1-31, December.
    5. Wang, Wenjie & Zhang, Yichong, 2024. "Wild bootstrap inference for instrumental variables regressions with weak and few clusters," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 241(1).
    6. Munroe, Ellen & Nosach, Anastasiia & Pedrozo, Moises & Guarnieri, Eleonora & Riano, Juan Felipe & Tur-Prats, Ana & Valencia Caicedo, Felipe, 2023. "The Legacies of War for Ukraine," CEPR Discussion Papers 17841, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
    7. Thorsten Rogall & Tatiana Zárate-Barrera, 2020. "Yes They Can: Genocide, Political Participation, and Female Empowerment," HiCN Working Papers 338, Households in Conflict Network.
    8. Dominic Rohner, 2025. "Conflict," CESifo Working Paper Series 12035, CESifo.
    9. Hollie Nyseth Nzitatira & Jared F Edgerton & Laura C Frizzell, 2023. "Analyzing Participation in the 1994 Genocide in Rwanda," Journal of Peace Research, Peace Research Institute Oslo, vol. 60(2), pages 291-306, March.
    10. Julia Cagé & Anna Dagorret & Pauline Grosjean & Saumitra Jha, 2023. "Heroes and Villains: The Effects of Heroism on Autocratic Values and Nazi Collaboration in France," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 113(7), pages 1888-1932, July.
    11. Moses Stewart, 2025. "Constructing an Instrument as a Function of Covariates," Papers 2503.10929, arXiv.org, revised Jun 2025.
    12. Gautier, Thomas, 2025. "From missing brothers to educated sisters: The effects of victimization during the Rwandan genocide," Open Access Publications from Kiel Institute for the World Economy 318207, Kiel Institute for the World Economy (IfW Kiel).
    13. Bühler, Mathias & Madestam, Andreas, 2023. "State Repression, Exit, and Voice: Living in the Shadow of Cambodia's Killing Fields," VfS Annual Conference 2023 (Regensburg): Growth and the "sociale Frage" 277610, Verein für Socialpolitik / German Economic Association.
    14. Cage, Julia & Dagorret, Anna & Grosjean, Pauline & Jha, Saumitra, 2020. "Heroes and Villains: The Effects of Combat Heroism on Autocratic Values and Nazi Collaboration in France," Research Papers 3923, Stanford University, Graduate School of Business.

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    More about this item

    JEL classification:

    • D72 - Microeconomics - - Analysis of Collective Decision-Making - - - Political Processes: Rent-seeking, Lobbying, Elections, Legislatures, and Voting Behavior
    • D74 - Microeconomics - - Analysis of Collective Decision-Making - - - Conflict; Conflict Resolution; Alliances; Revolutions
    • O17 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economic Development - - - Formal and Informal Sectors; Shadow Economy; Institutional Arrangements
    • Q54 - Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics; Environmental and Ecological Economics - - Environmental Economics - - - Climate; Natural Disasters and their Management; Global Warming

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