Why do civilians engage in Civilian Defence Forces (CDFs) to confront insurgents if it is
more dangerous than pacific resistance? This paper addresses two cases of peasant-centric …

This article examines the genealogy and behavior of the CIA militias in Afghanistan against
the backdrop of persistent armed governance whereby a plurality of actors competes over …

Why do states target some civilians with collective punishment while coopting others with
material goods during an ethnic civil war? This article examines how the Turkish …

As a result of state atrophy in Syria and Iraq, governments in both countries have been
transferring the task of preserving security in certain marginal areas to tribal militias. This …

As a result of the debilitating situation that the Syrian state reached during the Syrian Civil
War, the government relies heavily on paramilitary groups to confront security challenges …

As a result of the situation created during the Syrian crisis, the Syrian government has
increasingly relied on paramilitary groups to address security challenges. Existing studies …

This dissertation develops a theory on the strategic interaction between civilians and
combatants in war zones. It builds on the emerging field of research on noncombatant self …

This paper aims to investigate the Iraqi state's utilization of tribalism to mobilize and deploy
forces against its opponents. The paper argues that state elites exploit tribal divisions for …

In 1999, when asked why most other countries disagree with American policy in Iraq, United
States Secretary of State Madeleine Albright said,'it is because we are American, we are the …

Despite the progress of International Relations literature on proxy warfare of the past 20
years, numerous of its angles remain unexplored. One of the most prominent ones is the …