Rivalry and Revenge
The Politics of Violence during Civil War

This book explores the motives of local political elites and armed groups in carrying out violence against civilians during civil war.

Laia Balcells (Author)

9781107548213, Cambridge University Press

Paperback / softback, published 28 September 2017

285 pages, 29 b/w illus. 8 maps
23 x 15.5 x 1.6 cm, 0.43 kg

'Despite so much excellent research on civil war, we have failed to explain one of its most alarming features - the extent of violence directed at civilians. Understanding this phenomenon is extraordinarily important today, where the headlines abound with civilian victimization. Laia Balcells' in-depth research offers and tests a political theory that takes seriously the interactions among local populations and the occupying military forces as they use their powers strategically for vengeance, yes, but also to prepare for a post-war world that can realize the dreams of the warriors. Rivalry and Revenge offers real guidance for making sense of so much of what we now see before us.' Margaret Levi, Stanford University , California

What explains violence against civilians in civil wars? Why do groups kill civilians in areas where they have full military control and their rivals have no military presence? This innovative book connects pre-war politics to patterns of violence during civil war. It argues that both local political rivalry and local revenge account for violence against civilians. Armed groups perpetrate direct violence jointly with local civilians, who collaborate when violence can help them gain or consolidate local political control. As civil war continues, revenge motives also come into play, leading to spirals of violence at a local level. In an important contribution to the study of the Spanish Civil War, Balcells combines statistical analyses with ethnographic and qualitative research to provide new insights to scholars and academic researchers with an interest in civil war, politics and conflict processes. Rivalry and Revenge is theoretically and empirically rich, and it offers a theory and method generalizable to a wide set of cases.

Acknowledgements
Notes on conventions
Part I: 1. Violence against civilians during civil wars
2. A theory of violence against civilians
Part II: 3. History of the Spanish civil war (1936–9)
4. Executions and massacres during the Spanish civil war (1936–9)
5. Bombardments during the Spanish civil war (1936–9)
Part III: 6. The conflict in Côte d'Ivoire (2002–11)
7. Additional evidence and macro-level implications
8. Conclusion
Glossary
Appendix
Bibliography
Index.

Subject Areas: Comparative politics [JPB], Politics & government [JP], Violence in society [JFFE], Spanish Civil War [HBWP], African history [HBJH]