TY  - BOOK
AU  - SCHIEVELS  Jelte Johannes
AU  - COLLEY Thomas
TI  - Explaining rebel-state collaboration in insurgency: keep your friends close but your enemies closer
PY  - 2021///
KW  - INSURGENCY
KW  - REBEL-STATE COLLABORATION
KW  - CIVIL WAR
KW  - AFGHANISTAN
KW  - SYRIA
N2  - This article endeavours to take the first step in developing a comprehensive theory by analysing rebel-state collaboration in two heuristic case studies: Afghanistan and Syria. Through process tracing, we find four mechanisms that can explain collaboration: 1) to prevent a costly military stalemate, 2) to gain or maintain legitimacy, 3) because external threats incentivise a mutually beneficial alliance, and 4) because both have to operate under the constraints of the pre-existing political economy. The relative weight of each varies, reflecting the fluid and contextual nature of wartime political orders. Contrasting with more popular explanations, we argue rebels and states are willing to collaborate even when the other benefits too, providing they believe their relative gains would be higher than their opponents, or the costs of competing would be too large. In providing a fuller explanation of rebel-state collaboration, we advocate a rethink about how to capture and analyse the complex and dynamic interactions between rebels and states
UR  - https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/09592318.2020.1827847
ER  -