The role of political exclusion and state capacity in civil conflict in South Asia

Extant literature on intrastate conflict independently explores terrorism and civil war. However, both terrorism and civil war are probably parts of a continuum of intrastate conflict with the former at one end and the latter at the other end in terms of intensity. I argue that two factors play impo...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Author: Ghatak, Sambuddha (Author)
Format: Electronic Article
Language:English
Published: 2018
In: Terrorism and political violence
Year: 2018, Volume: 30, Issue: 1, Pages: 74-96
Online Access: Volltext (Resolving-System)
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Summary:Extant literature on intrastate conflict independently explores terrorism and civil war. However, both terrorism and civil war are probably parts of a continuum of intrastate conflict with the former at one end and the latter at the other end in terms of intensity. I argue that two factors play important roles in rebels’ decision-making calculus, namely, the size of their support base and state strength. Terrorism, as a strategy of the weak, is optimal when the rebel groups have little support among their audience and the state is strong. On the other hand, guerrilla warfare is an ideal strategy when such groups have a greater support base and the state is weak. The theoretical argument is tested on a dataset of Myanmar and six countries of South Asia and for 1970–2007.
Item Description:Gesehen am 21.11.2023
Published online: 02 Mar 2016
Physical Description:Illustrationen
ISSN:1556-1836
DOI:10.1080/09546553.2016.1150840