Civil War Dynamics, Recurrence, and Consequences

Vocabulary flashcards covering the key concepts, typologies, and theories regarding civil war duration, gender roles, child soldiers, and transitional justice based on the provided lecture notes.

Weibull distribution

A statistical distribution applied to civil war duration, indicating a median duration of $7.1$ years and a mean of $11.1$ years.

Conflict trap

The phenomenon where civil wars frequently recur in the same country, with a noted $36\%$ recurrence rate between $1945$ and $1996$.

Sons of the soil

Long-lived peripheral insurgencies (median $23.9$ years) involving ethnic or religious groups in conflict with the government over territory.

Commitment problems

A factor that increases war duration because parties cannot trust each other to abide by peace terms, often exacerbated by weak state capacity or fluctuating power.

Typology of civil wars

Classification of conflicts into categories such as coups/popular revolutions (median $2.5$ years), anti-colonial (median $5.3$ years), and peripheral insurgencies.

Contraband financing

The use of illicit goods to fund rebel groups, which significantly extends war duration to a median of $19.8$ years and a mean of $25.1$ years.

DALYs (Disability Adjusted Life Years)

A measure of the health impact of civil wars; for instance, in $1999$, $8.44\text{ million}$ DALYs were lost due to conflict-related disease and disability.

"Draining the sea"

A counterinsurgency (COIN) strategy where the government targets and kills civilians to eliminate the support base for rebel forces.

Phoenix factor

A phenomenon where countries catch up to or exceed pre-war growth levels within about $20$ years post-war by establishing new and better infrastructure.

Essentialist argument (gender)

The biological perspective assuming women are inherently more peaceful than men in their attitudes and behaviors.

Constructivist argument (gender)

The perspective that views on peace and gender roles are shaped by experiences, socialization, and the "othering" of groups.

Social Dominance Theory

The theory that men are disproportionately driven to maintain group hierarchies through aggression and war to secure resources.

Supply-side (child soldiers)

Theory explaining child recruitment as a result of an excess of available children due to poverty, lack of education, and displacement.

Demand-side (child soldiers)

Theory explaining child recruitment based on the military's need for troops, the ease of retention, and the effectiveness of children as fighters.

Pro-government militias (PGMs)

Groups formally independent from state security forces that support the government's preferred outcomes and are present in $81\%$ of civil wars.

Community Defense Forces (CDFs)

Militias originating for community protection or localized goals, generally pro-government and defending a specific home base.

Justice cascade

The international shift from a norm of immunity for state officials toward a norm of individual criminal accountability for human rights violations.

Truth Commissions

Temporary, officially sanctioned nonjudicial bodies investigated to research patterns of abuses over time to establish a historical record.

Lustration

A transitional justice mechanism that limits or disqualifies officials of the previous regime from holding future political office.

Amnesties

Retroactive laws that eliminate the record of crimes and bar prosecutions to eliminate blame, though they assume a crime was committed.

Power-sharing institutions

Arrangements (political, military, territorial, or economic) designed to manage social conflict and signal a credible commitment to peace.

Mediation

A third-party intervention where an outside actor facilitates talks and suggests settlements to warring parties seeking conflict resolution.

Peacekeeping (UN missions)

Forces deployed to supervise cease-fires and increase the costs of fighting; they reduce the renewal of civil war by $30\text{-}95\%$.

Wave I (Environment)

The historical school of thought (including Malthus) that links conflict to competition over diminishing, rival, or non-renewable natural resources.

Wave II (Environment)

Contemporary research focusing on how climate variability, such as extreme temperature or rainfall, increases armed conflict risks.

Participatory rebel governance

A style of governance involving elections and local councils; engaging in this style increases post-civil war peace duration.

Secessionist conflicts and child soldiers

Rebel groups in these conflicts are less likely to use child soldiers because they fear losing the international legitimacy required to achieve their goals.