“No peace, no war” proponents? How pro-regime militias affect civil war termination and outcomes

Aliyev, H. (2019) “No peace, no war” proponents? How pro-regime militias affect civil war termination and outcomes. Cooperation and Conflict, 54(1), pp. 64-82. (doi: 10.1177/0010836718766380)

Abstract

Previous research on non-state actors involved in civil wars, has tended to disregard the role of extra-dyad agents in influencing conflict outcomes. Little is known as to whether the presence of such extra-dyadic actors as pro-regime militias affects conflict termination and outcomes. This article develops and tests a number of hypotheses on the pro-government militias’ effect upon civil war outcomes. It proposes that pro-regime militias involved in intrastate conflicts tend to act as proponents of “no peace, no war” favouring low activity violence and ceasefires over other conflict outcomes. These hypotheses are examined using expanded dataset on pro-government militias and armed conflict in a statistical analysis of 229 civil wars episodes from 1991 to 2015. These findings shed new light on the role of extra-state actors in civil wars.

• Item Type: Articles
• Status: Published
• Refereed: Yes
• Glasgow Author(s) Enlighten ID: Aliyev, Dr Huseyn
• Authors: Aliyev, H.
• Subjects: J Political Science > JA Political science (General); J Political Science > JF Political institutions (General); J Political Science > JZ International relations; U Military Science > U Military Science (General)
• College/School: College of Social Sciences > School of Social and Political Sciences > Central and East European Studies
• Journal Name: Cooperation and Conflict
• Publisher: SAGE
• ISSN: 0010-8367
• ISSN (Online): 1460-3691
• Published Online: 10 April 2018
• Copyright Holders: Copyright © 2018 The Author
• First Published: First published in Cooperation and Conflict 54(1):64-82
• Publisher Policy: Reproduced in accordance with the copyright policy of the publisher