International Relations Workshop with Barbara F. Walter

DateApril 20, 2015

Time12:30pm

Location
4357 Bunche Hall

Contact
Contact Information
Belinda SunnuPhone bsunnu@polisci.ucla.edu

Presenter:Barbara F. Walter, UC San DiegoTitle: “The Logic of Rebel Strategies in Civil War”Abstract:[This] paper … is part of a book about rebel groups and how competition affects their behavior during civil wars. It starts from the observation that rebel groups often act quite differently from each other even when they are pursuing similar goals. I argue that the structure of the competitive environment in which rebel groups operate explains much about their behavior during civil war. The more competition rebel groups face from rival factions or potential factions, the more attention they are likely to pay to the needs of the local population and the better and more benevolently they will govern. In addition, the greater the competition, the more likely rebel groups are to pursue strategies designed to deter and eliminate rivals. The particular characteristics of the competitive environment, therefore, could influence the behavior of rebel groups in important ways and could help explain the variation in rebel behavior across conflicts and over time.  About the Speaker:Barbara F. Walter (Ph.D. 1994, Univ. of Chicago) is Professor of International Relations and Pacific Studies and Affiliated Faculty of Political Science at UCSD. She has also been a fellow at the Olin Institute for Strategic Studies at Harvard University, the War and Peace Institute at Columbia University, and the Niehaus Center for Globalization and Governance at Princeton University.  Prof. Walter is an expert on international security, with emphasis on civil wars as well as and terrorism/counter-terrorism. Her current research interests include the organization and behavior of rebel groups during civil war, as well as the rise of Islamic extremism. She is the recipient of numerous grants and fellowships, including awards from the National Science Foundation, the Carnegie Corporation of New York, and the Guggenheim and Smith Richardson Foundations.PaperClick here to download.

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