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External Diaspora Sponsorship to Rebel Organizations. Causes and Consequences

  • While intrastate conflicts remain the dominant form of armed conflict and migration receives increasing attention, the international dimension of civil wars, particularly non-state sponsorship, has largely been overlooked. This dissertation examines the phenomenon of diasporas as external sponsors in intrastate conflicts. It investigates: (1) Why do diasporas support rebel organizations? (2) Under what conditions is diaspora support more or less likely? (3) How does diaspora sponsorship of rebel organizations impact civilian victimization and rebel governance? To understand the logic of diaspora support, I employ a principal-agent framework. Conflict, rebel group, diaspora, and homeland characteristics are determinants of diaspora sponsorship. I argue that diasporas aim for kin support and changes in the homeland and consequently prefer limited violence against civilians and co-ethnic civilians. Diasporas benefit from delegating the task of combat and limited civilian victimization but risk agency slack. Concurrently, the rebel organization gains additional resources but loses autonomy. I introduce an information-sharing mechanism between co-ethnics in the conflict zone and the diaspora, which enhances the monitoring capability of the diaspora. I employ a mixed-methods approach to answer the research questions. Interviews conducted in the Washington DC area with members of various diasporas and experts provide evidence for the information-sharing between the diaspora and co-ethnics. I produced a unique data set on diaspora support for African and Asian intrastate conflicts between 1989 and 2014. Findings from multiple large-N analyses, utilizing extreme bounds analysis, logistic regression, and negative binomial analyses, serve as the empirical base for examining the causes and consequences of diaspora sponsorship to rebel organizations. I demonstrate that conflict and rebel group characteristics are strong determinants of diaspora sponsorship, while homeland and diaspora characteristics yield mixed results. Diaspora support significantly reduces the number of civilian killings. The impacts on ethnic violence and rebel governance are heterogeneous. Overall, this dissertation enriches our understanding of diasporas’ roles as external actors in conflict dynamics and as non-state sponsors for rebel organizations. It opens further avenues for researching civilian-rebel relationships and host country-homeland dynamics. Policy discussions may follow around monitoring of sponsorship activities and the responsibilities of host countries.

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Metadaten
Document Type:Doctoral Thesis
Language:English
Author(s):Sara DaubORCiD
Advisor:Julian Wucherpfennig, Kathleen Gallagher Cunningham, Shubha Kamala Prasad
Hertie Collections (Serial Number):Dissertations submitted to the Hertie School (07/2024)
Publication year:2024
Publishing Institution:Hertie School
Granting Institution:Hertie School
Thesis date:2024/05/14
Number pages:xiv, 307
DOI:https://doi.org/10.48462/opus4-5484
Release Date:2024/06/12
Notes:
Shelf mark: 2024D007 + 2024D007+1
Hertie School Research:Publications PhD Researchers
Licence of document (German):Creative Commons - CC BY-NC - Namensnennung - Nicht kommerziell 4.0 International
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