Ethnicity, Insurgency, and Civil War - James D. Fearon & David D. Laitin

Question 1

Ethnic diversity & civil war

Answer 1

greater degree of ethnic and religious diversity alone does not make a country more prone to civil war

Question 2

Insurgency

Answer 2

a technology of military conflict characterized by small, lightly-armed bands practicing guerrilla warfare in rural areas

Question 3

Insurgency & civil war

Answer 3

conditions that favor insurgency often predict civil war

Question 4

Conditions favoring insurgency

Answer 4

financially, organizationally, and politically weak government

Question 5

Rate of outbreak vs. Rate of resolution (Civil War)

Answer 5

rate of outbreak: 2.31/year
rate of resolution: 1.85/year
Civil war outbreaks are happening more often than resolutions

Question 6

Fearon and Laitin’s hypothesis on conditions favoring insurgency (a, b, c)

Answer 6

the presence of:

(a) rough terrain, poorly served roads, at a distance from the centers of state power
(b) the availability of foreign cross-border sanctuaries
(c) a local population that can be induced not to denounce the insurgents to government agents

Question 7

Insurgency & per capita income

Answer 7

higher per capita income –> stronger counterinsurgency efforts –> lower likelihood of civil war

Question 8

Fearon & Laitin’s hypothesis on conditions favoring insurgents (a, b, c, d, e, f, g, h)

Answer 8

insurgents are favored when:

(a) they’re operating in a new state
(b) which has political instability
(c) a mix of democratic and autocratic features (power struggle)
(d) a large country population
(e) a territorial base away from the state’s center
(f) foreign government willing to supply weapons, money, or training
(g) land supporting high-value, low-weight goods (diamonds)
(h) a state whose revenues derive primarily from oil exports

Question 9

Ethnic diversity, income, and civil war

Answer 9

for any level of ethnic diversity, as one moves up the income scale, the odds of civil war decrease substantially; richest 5th of countries are practically immune to civil war