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Ordering Violence: Explaining Armed Group-State Relations from Conflict to Cooperation

Online ISBN:
9781501761133
Print ISBN:
9781501761102
Publisher:
Cornell University Press
Book

Ordering Violence: Explaining Armed Group-State Relations from Conflict to Cooperation

Paul Staniland
Paul Staniland
University of Chicago
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Published online:
19 May 2022
Published in print:
15 December 2021
Online ISBN:
9781501761133
Print ISBN:
9781501761102
Publisher:
Cornell University Press

Abstract

This book advances a broad approach to armed politics—bringing together governments, insurgents, militias, and armed political parties in a shared framework—to argue that governments' perception of the ideological threats posed by armed groups drive their responses and interactions. The book combines a unique new dataset of state–group armed orders in India, Pakistan, Burma/Myanmar, and Sri Lanka with detailed case studies from the region to explore when and how this model of threat perception provides insight into patterns of repression, collusion, and mutual neglect across nearly seven decades. Instead of straightforwardly responding to the material or organizational power of armed groups, the book finds, regimes assess how a group's politics align with their own ideological projects. Explaining, for example, why governments often use extreme repression against weak groups even while working with or tolerating more powerful armed actors, the book provides a comprehensive overview of South Asia's complex armed politics, embedded within an analytical framework that can also speak broadly beyond the subcontinent.

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