Perspectives on the rebel social contract: Exit, voice, and loyalty in the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria

Revkin, Mara Redlich; Ahram, Ariel I.

doi:10.1016/j.worlddev.2020.104981

Cited by 33 publications

(18 citation statements)

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“…On civilian interaction with rebel governance, see, e.g. Al-Jabassini (2017), who studies conscription by the PYD in northern Syria, and Revkin and Ahram (2020), who study the Islamic State.…”

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confidence: 99%

On-Side fighting in civil war: The logic of mortal alignment in Syria

Schulhofer-Wohl

2020

Rationality and Society

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On-side fighting – outright violence between armed groups aligned on the same side of a civil war’s master cleavage – represents a devastating breakdown in cooperation. Its humanitarian consequences are also grave. But it has been under-recognized empirically and therefore under-theorized by scholars to date. This article remedies the omission. Existing research can be extrapolated to produce candidate explanations, but these overlook spatial and temporal variation in on-side fighting within a war. I provide a theory that accounts for this ebb and flow. On-side fighting hinges on belligerents’ trade-offs between short-term survival and long-term political objectives. Enemy threats to survival underpin on-side cooperation; in their absence, belligerents can pursue political gains against on-side competitors. I evaluate this threat-absence theory using evidence from the ongoing Syrian Civil War’s first years. Fine-grained fatalities data capture fluctuating enemy threats to on-side groups’ survival and situate on-side fighting and its absence. Findings support threat-absence theory and contribute to research on warfighting and political competition in civil wars and to the study of coalition dynamics in other settings, including elections and legislatures.

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confidence: 99%

On-Side fighting in civil war: The logic of mortal alignment in Syria

Schulhofer-Wohl

2020

Rationality and Society

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“…The wars in Syria and Libya have generated an important new research programme on proxy warfare and the changing nature of power in regional politics (Lynch, 2021, inpress). The rise of the Islamic State, as Darwich' essay in this SI discusses, sparked new research on the durability of borders and on the provision of rebel governance (Ahram, 2019;Heydemann, 2018;Revkin & Ahram, 2020). The rise of the Gulf states as major players in regional politics has sparked a theoretical novel literature on the political economy of Gulf power (Hanieh, 2018;Ulrichsen, 2020).…”

Section: International Dimensionsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Taking stock of MENA political science after the uprisings

Lynch

2021

Mediterranean Politics

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This Special Issue demonstrates the scope and breadth of the response by political scientists to the 2011 Arab uprisings. The contributions show the significant, rigorous development of understanding key mechanisms and issues such as protest mobilization, repression, sectarianism and international alliances. They also demonstrate the enduring relevance of the Area Studies Controversy, the value of building and exploiting new data sources, and the importance of close attention to cases. At the same time, they reveal growing problems with access to Middle Eastern countries for political science research. The articles reveal intriguing similarities and differences between the European and American fields, and the potential for productive dialogue. KEYWORDS Arab uprisings; Middle East and North Africa; Area Studies Controversy; comparative politics; International RelationsThis Special Issue (SI) takes the occasion of the tenth anniversary of the Arab uprisings of 2011 to reflect upon the performance of the field of political science in the study of the Middle East and North Africa (MENA). There is little question that there has been an efflorescence of research and publication on the Middle East since 2011. The uprisings, failed and successful transitions, authoritarian restorations, and civil wars have offered ample ground for scholars to revisit old theories and to develop new ones. The crush of events and demand for new forms of expertise also made MENA political science more directly relevant to the rest of the discipline than ever before. A decade on is a good time for a reckoning, across subfields: has all of this academic activity produced new theoretical approaches or significantly improved our understanding MENA politics?This SI brings together a set of novel and insightful reflections by Europebased scholars which aim, in the words of the editors, 'to take stock of political science research on the MENA a decade after the Arab uprisings.' The SI showcases the genuinely impressive progress made by MENA political science scholars in the decade since the uprisings. The essays focus on three

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“…The rapidly expanding body of literature on 'rebel governance', a sub-field of civil war studies, sets out to explore civil war dynamics in areas where nonstate armed groups rule populations, often by focusing on local micro processes as the unit of analysis (Kalyvas 2008(Kalyvas , 2012. Although civilian populations have tended to be viewed primarily as either active participants in armed guerillas or passive victims of rebel actions by the broader civil war literature (Mampilly 2011, p. 66, Hallward et al 2017 3), recent accounts uncover civilian agency and non-violent strategies that influence rebel behaviour, such as reduction of local violence (Barter 2014, Masullo 2015, Arjona 2017a, Kaplan 2018, Zürcher 2019, Revkin and Ahram 2020 According to Ana Arjona, in territories controlled by rebels, the relationship between the non-state armed group and the civilian population can often be likened to that between a ruler and the ruled (2017b, p. 756). Thus, for rebel rulers as well as any other authorities ruling populations, partial resistance, ranging from symbolic expressions of discontent and other 'forms of everyday resistance' (Scott 1985) to more explicit opposition to rebels' commands and actions, would be expected.…”

Section: Theoretical Framework: Civil Resistance and Rebel Governancementioning

confidence: 99%

“…184-185). However, the extent to which a civilian community may express discontent and actively resist an insurgent ruler may often be strictly limited (Zürcher 2019, Revkin andAhram 2020). Yet, the level of an armed group's control is not only a result of the group's power, but, rather a function of the armed group's capabilities and of the community's ability to resist.…”

Section: Theoretical Framework: Civil Resistance and Rebel Governancementioning

confidence: 99%

“…Micro-level studies of civil war have enhanced our understanding of combatant-civilian relations in territories ruled by non-state armed groups (see for example, Kriger 1992, Kafsir 2002, Wood 2003, Kalyvas 2009, Weinstein 2009, Metelits 2010, Mampilly 2011, La Serna 2012. However, with notable exceptions (see for example, Mampilly 2011, Barter 2014, Masullo 2015, Hallward et al 2017, Arjona 2017a, 2017b, Kaplan 2018, Avant et al 2019, Revkin and Ahram 2020, the broader conflict literature has often been largely eclectic when dealing with civilian agency and resistance, perceiving unarmed civilians as more passive respondents to armed groups' behaviour or as potential recruits (Mampilly 2011, p. 66, Hallward et al 2017). On the other hand, the rapidly expanding literature on civil resistance clearly shows the potential of civilian agency and demonstrates that non-violent, collective campaigns may be an effective strategy to alter established political structures.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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‘Like a Chicken in a Cage’: Civil Resistance, militant Islamist Rulers and Traditional Authorities in Southern Somalia

Skjelderup

2021

Civil Wars

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This article explores civilian agency and civil resistance under Islamist insurgents' rule in southern Somalia in the period 2006 to 2012. After almost two decades of civil war, local institutions were weakened and the communities could not resist tight Islamist control. The traditional authorities either fled or chose to cooperate with the new rulers. However, while treading a fine line, traditional authorities were still able to raise community concerns and influence the Islamist rulers' behaviour through limited forms of civil resistance. Although not changing the overall political situation, traditional authorities were instrumental in reducing tension and improving civilian life.

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Perspectives on the rebel social contract: Exit, voice, and loyalty in the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria

Cited by 33 publications

References 47 publications

On-Side fighting in civil war: The logic of mortal alignment in Syria

On-Side fighting in civil war: The logic of mortal alignment in Syria

Taking stock of MENA political science after the uprisings

‘Like a Chicken in a Cage’: Civil Resistance, militant Islamist Rulers and Traditional Authorities in Southern Somalia

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