POLI104 additional reading - Stocker 2024 - VNSAs

Appeal of Alternative Authority

• Violent non-state actors need local population support to be effective.
• Civilian views on competing authorities determine sympathy or tolerance.
• State repression and inequitable service provision drive appeal of alternative governance models.

A Failing Approach

• Domestic and international actors often ignore the importance of legitimacy among local populations.
• Immediate security concerns often take precedence over addressing conditions that incentivize civilians to see violent actors as legitimate.
• Examples include the situation in Mali and Burkina Faso with Jama’at Nusrat al-Islam wal-Muslimin (JNIM) and in southeast Nigeria with the Indigenous Peoples of Biafra (IPOB).

Implications for Irregular Warfare

• Ignoring local legitimacy issues puts the democratic international community at a disadvantage.
• Russia, China, and other actors promote repressive authoritarianism.
• The US often waffles between security assistance and process legitimacy, ignoring local issues.
• This can lead to disengagement and the perception that the West is disinterested in solving conflicts.

Recommendations

• Condition security assistance on limited and legitimate use of military force against violent non-state actors, avoiding disproportionate harm to civilians.
• Support partners in ensuring legitimate political avenues for civilians to address grievances, including open political spaces and fair elections.
• Target democracy and governance assistance toward the political inclusion of marginalized communities.
• Conduct routine assessments of a country’s progress on metrics related to political and civic activities.

Conclusion

• Understanding the role of sympathy and tolerance in enabling violent non-state actors is crucial.
• Neglecting this strategic factor is counterproductive in an era of great power competition and irregular warfare.
• Failures reinforce the idea among autocratic elites that force and repression are the only solutions, driving them closer to Russia and China.
• Marginalized populations may lose faith in the democratic world's commitment to political inclusion.