
19 UNU-WIDER articles, publications, projects, experts...
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Working Paper
The effects of wartime institutions on households’ ability to cope with shocksThis paper studies the legacies of wartime institutions, measured as rebelocracy, on the ability of households to cope with negative income shocks. Rebelocracy is the social order established by non-state armed actors in the communities they control...
Journal Article
The long-term economic legacies of rebel rule in civil warTHIS ARTICLE IS ON EARLY VIEW | A growing literature has documented widespread variation in the extent to which insurgents provide public goods, collect taxes, and regulate civilian conduct. This paper offers what is, to our knowledge, the first...
Working Paper
Rebel governance during COVID-19As COVID-19 spread worldwide, armed groups in control of territory were called to address the health emergency. However, our knowledge in this regard is limited. Specifically, it remains poorly understood why different armed groups responded to the...
Working Paper
Armed groups’ modes of local engagement and post-conflict (in)stabilityWhat distinguishes post-war governments that succeed in establishing a stable political order and prevent recurring conflict from those that do not? This comparative study considers the specific threats that typically lead to the collapse of the post...
Working Paper
Armed group opportunism in the face of recent crisesTerrorist and other types of armed groups often exploit natural and human-made disasters and emergencies to advance their causes. This paper studies how some armed groups have responded to two recent global emergencies—climate change and the COVID-19...
Working Paper
Rebel governance and political participationRebels, militias, and criminal groups all govern civilians. Governing strategies adopted by armed groups during civil war likely influence citizens’ post-conflict political participation, with consequences for democratic politics. We theorize that an...
Working Paper
Between victory and statehoodWhat accounts for armed violence in the aftermath of civil war? Efforts to develop a comprehensive framework to understand this phenomenon have been made in the literature. Yet existing studies have in general looked at distinct pre-war, wartime, and...
Working Paper
Community organization and armed group behaviourThis paper investigates how armed groups affect the organization of local communities during armed conflict in Colombia. We estimate the effect of communities’ exposure to armed groups with an econometric specification that takes into account...
Blog
Learning from conflicts past: What recent history of Abkhazia tells us about the future of Donetsk and Luhansk
The recognition of disputed territories as independent states rarely brings underlying conflicts to an end. Instead, fully, and partially, recognized...
Blog
Superpowers, super-spoilers, and hybrid warfare: What the new Cold War means for global cooperation
Last week we woke up to a conflict that had echoes of the Second World War, the Cold War, and the last two decades of hybrid conflict all mixed into...
Blog
Why Russian brutality may backfire: A political violence perspective
The Russian invasion of Ukraine has been fast shifting into a new phase, one many observers have noted is marked by increasing levels of Russian...
Blog
From conflict preventor to security actor: European Peace Facility, Ukraine, and the evolution of EU’s roleRussia’s war of aggression on Ukraine has catalysed the European Union (EU) — criticised as a paper tiger yet acknowledged to evolve through crises —...
Blog
Zelenskiy’s wartime transformation: From comedian to national hero
Shock over the Russian invasion of Ukraine on 24 February 2022 continues to be felt. The heroic behaviour of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy...
Blog
What political science can tell us about Russia’s invasion of Ukraine
Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has rightly stirred outrage against an act of naked aggression, and sympathy for the plight of ordinary Ukrainians forced...
Blog
The 2022 energy shock
The price and availability of energy is fundamental to the health of the global economy. The Russia–Ukraine war is intensifying an energy shock that...