Rebels without Borders Quotes

“Some scholars have adopted the convention of reserving the term “civil war” for conflicts that exceed 1,000 battle deaths or reach some other death threshold. This terminology is unfortunate, however, as it has been adopted for reasons of methodological convenience rather than any theoretical criterion. There are few theoretical reasons to believe that conflicts above an arbitrary threshold are conceptually distinct from and not comparable to conflicts below that threshold.”
― Salehyan, Rebels without Borders: Transnational Insurgencies in World Politics

“Mobilizing a rebellion, training forces, and gathering supplies in external territories offers the obvious advantage of evading state security forces; it significantly reduces the costs of organizing violence. Resources provided by other states can also substantially augment the insurgents’ ability to procure arms and finances. Yet, this strategy is not without costs. When mobilizing in other countries, rebel organizations may lose touch with their constituents and reduce their ability to monitor rapidly changing conditions on the ground. Local populations in the host state may not welcome their new “guests,” who may be blamed for security problems. Rebels may also be positioned far from government targets and be at some distance from the capital or major cities. Most important, accepting support from foreign patrons often comes with strings attached, as rebel organizations are forced to graft the agendas of their backers onto their own.”
― Salehyan, Rebels without Borders: Transnational Insurgencies in World Politics

“States that are perhaps too weak to evict TNRs may be dragged unwillingly into international disputes as they are accused of harboring militants and face crossborder strikes and retaliatory actions by their neighbors. Thus, on one hand, rebel sanctuaries may become a source of international war, but on the other hand, rebel patronage may be used by enemies as an alternative to war.”
― Salehyan, Rebels without Borders: Transnational Insurgencies in World Politics

“Weak neighbors, rival neighbors, and refugee communities in which to mobilize are central to the theoretical framework in this book, as they facilitate extraterritorial rebel bases, which in turn make fighting insurgents more difficult.”
― Salehyan, Rebels without Borders: Transnational Insurgencies in World Politics

“Rebels are more likely to have access to external territory if neighboring states are too weak to prevent access. Failed states, or states with limited control over their territory, pose international security risks, as militant groups often use their soil as a base of operations.”
― Salehyan, Rebels without Borders: Transnational Insurgencies in World Politics

“More often than not, territorially bounded nationstates are not perfectly congruent with the polity, or group of people who make claims upon the state. The Leviathan is “caged” by international borders, whereas rebel organizations can and often do organize transnationally, evading state coercive power.”
― Salehyan, Rebels without Borders: Transnational Insurgencies in World Politics

“The state has an advantage in the domestic use of force, but its power is largely constrained by its internationally recognized borders. While states work to monitor and repress dissent at home (Bates, Greif, and Singh 2002; Hardin 1995; Olson 2001), they are limited in their ability to exercise force in territories where they are not sovereign. Understanding this limitation on state power, rebel groups often evade repression by strategically positioning themselves outside of the state’s reach. Thus, territorially unbridled, transnational actors—although apparently weak—have a significant advantage against geographically constrained states, whose power and authority are defined by a particular sovereign space. Conditions in neighboring states and the ability to organize in external sanctuaries, therefore, critically affect the bargain between states and challengers by altering the apparent internal asymmetry of force (on asymmetric warfare see Arreguin-Toft 2001 and Mack 1975).”
― Salehyan, Rebels without Borders: Transnational Insurgencies in World Politics