What is rebel law? How does it vary across rebel groups? Is it congruent with state and international laws? Why or why not? Does the degree of congruence impact conflict resolution?
For many years, policy and scholarly communities labeled conflict zones like Afghanistan, Somalia, and elsewhere "failed states" or "lawless places." According to a nascent body of research, however, conflict zones are far from lawless. In particular, self-adopted laws governing rebel groups are common and often have legitimacy from civilians. Despite the prevalence of rebel law, scholars have yet to produce any systematic cross-national measurement of the concept or analysis of its causes and consequences. This book proposes a new measure and theoretical framework for identifying and comparing group-level laws across several dimensions of governance: property rights, justice, social diversity, and authority. It identifies the variation in the type of legal institutions rebels use, how extensive their legal orders are, and how congruent they are with the incumbent government's laws and international laws. Additionally, it examines whether the degree of legal congruence between former rebels and incumbents has implications for civil war outcomes, including why these groups support nonviolent conflict resolution even in cases where their laws seem irreconcilable and fighting has been long-standing. And finally, it explores the promises and pitfalls of arbitration. It concludes with a discussion of arbitration being used in a handful of cases, and how it may be a promising legal mechanism for reconciling diametric legal principles and resolving conflict nonviolently.
Throughout the book are empirical chapters where I use quantitative analysis of an original large-N cross-national dataset and qualitative case studies of unique archival data. This approach leverages the strengths of theory-driven research and diverse methodologies, combining (a) original macro-level cross-national data that will provide insight into the causes of rebel law and its effects on national-level civil war outcomes and (b) unique archival subnational and group-level qualitative data that will establish the sequence of steps between rebel law and conflict resolution.
As a whole, the book makes several contributions. First, it charts a new course for understanding civil wars by clarifying an understudied parameter: the legal foundations of peace. It shows how armed conflict and law are not mutually exclusive but rather intimately intertwined, and how understanding the laws groups use to resolve disputes within is crucial for understanding how they prefer to resolve conflict with other groups. The link between rebel law and conflict will generate new knowledge to aid our understanding of civil war processes and outcomes, including rebel governance, state-building, civil war recurrence, and conflict resolution. Second, this book can aid in more successful peace negotiations and increase the chances of a durable peace between warring factions—a significant facet of U.S. foreign policy and international security. It highlights how understanding the relationship between these groups' laws may help explain why, when, and how these groups can support nonviolent conflict resolution, even in cases where group laws seem irreconcilable and fighting is long-standing. While significant work has attributed a durable peace to the distribution of power, territory, or other resources, this book places law as an important conflict resolution facilitator. Rather than understanding civil war and law as mutually exclusive processes, my research shows that they are intimately intertwined as they overlap, interact, and can produce significant outcomes for peace.
*This research has been generously supported by theNational Science Foundation (Award #2017173), The John Sloan Dickey Center for International Understanding at Dartmouth College, Purdue University, the University of Pennsylvania's Office of the Vice-Provost for Research, Rice University Social Sciences Research Institute, and the Institute for Humane Studies at George Mason University.
The above photo includes pamphlets made by the FMLN and other rebel groups during the Salvadoran Civil War. It was taken during my Jan 2019 archival visit to the UCA, San Salvador, El Salvador.