Strategic atrocities: civilians under crossfire - theory and evidence from Colombia

Armed actors in civil war often target civilians to create fear and punish allegiance with the enemy. This strategy secures collaboration with the perpetrator, strengthening its civilian support, and helps the consolidation of territorial supremacy over contested regions. In this chapter, I illustra...

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Autores:
Tipo de recurso:
Fecha de publicación:
2016
Institución:
Universidad del Rosario
Repositorio:
Repositorio EdocUR - U. Rosario
Idioma:
eng
OAI Identifier:
oai:repository.urosario.edu.co:10336/28530
Acceso en línea:
https://doi.org/10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199378296.003.0019
https://repository.urosario.edu.co/handle/10336/28530
Palabra clave:
Civilian victimization
Civil war
Colombia
Strategic atrocities
Game theory
Rights
License
Restringido (Acceso a grupos específicos)
Description
Summary:Armed actors in civil war often target civilians to create fear and punish allegiance with the enemy. This strategy secures collaboration with the perpetrator, strengthening its civilian support, and helps the consolidation of territorial supremacy over contested regions. In this chapter, I illustrate this strategic use of atrocities with a model involving two armed groups who fight over territorial control and who try to secure compliance of local civilians through a combination of carrots and sticks. I study the conditions that lead to more or less civilians killed and illustrate the main theoretical arguments with descriptive evidence from the recent history of Colombia’s civil war.