Breaking Insurgent Economies
Open Access DepositedState Indiscriminate Violence During Civil War
Japanese in China (1937-1945), French in Indochina (1945-1954), and Soviets in Afghanistan (1979-1989). I conclude by discussing implications for the political violence literature, policy alternatives to economic violence, and approaches for mitigating the effects of economic violence on civilians.
State indiscriminate violence against civilians remains a tragically common feature of civil wars. Beyond direct fatalities, such violence also contributes to widespread civilian suffering through mass displacement, famine, and economic devastation. This dissertation seeks to address two key questions on states’ use of indiscriminate violence. First, why do states target civilians with indiscriminate violence during civil wars? Second, why does indiscriminate violence against civilians weaken some insurgencies but strengthen others? Prominent works on civilian victimization emphasize a punitive logic of indiscriminate violence where states seek to coerce civilians into altering their behavior. Instead, this dissertation argues that state violence often follows an economic logic that aims to exhaust insurgent opponents by disrupting the economy of insurgent-controlled areas. States use indiscriminate violence to deprive civilians the ability to support the insurgency rather than dissuade them from doing so. Further, in contrast to the conventional wisdom which argues indiscriminate violence counterproductively strengthens insurgencies, I argue that the effectiveness of indiscriminate violence depends on the logic of violence used, punitive or economic, and the level of insurgent territorial control in the targeted area. Punitive violence is counterproductive, particularly when used in contested areas. However, I conclude that economic violence targeting insurgent-controlled areas effectively weakens insurgencies. To examines these questions, the dissertation’s empirical strategy begins with three chapters on the Vietnam War. Using quantitative and qualitative archival data, I investigate the effects of several different indiscriminate violence strategies including forced resettlement, chemical crop destruction, bombing, and collective punishments. To address the broader generalizability outside of the Vietnam case, the dissertation then identifies the use of indiscriminate violence strategies by state forces during all major insurgencies in Southeast Asia between 1825-2025. Finally, the dissertation explores the broader generalizability of the theory of effectiveness with three other case studies of foreign intervention in Asia
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Rangazas_gwu_0075A_17543.pdf | 2025-12-11 | Open Access |
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