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The Balance of Convertibility: Manipulating External Support in Civil War

Wolfe, Kimberly L.
http://orcid.org/0000-0003-3912-1240
http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=wright1651864067970211

Abstract Details

2022, Master of Arts (MA), Wright State University, International and Comparative Politics.
Despite the pervasive trend in civil war of multiple sponsors backing rebels or the government, there is surprisingly minimal analysis on how the balance of support influences conflict duration. Building on the research of Sawyer et al. (2017), who find that the “fungibility” of external support leads to longer civil war, this thesis contributes a new scoring method for analyzing the balance of “fungible” (hereafter “convertible”) support among combatants (rebels versus government), discovering that a balance of convertibility contributes to shorter conflict. Convertible resources are those that combatants manipulate to enhance their warfighting capacity, such as funding, while troops or territory are less convertible since combatants can only use them in a specific context. A balance of convertible forces likely contributes to shorter conflict because both sides recognize the reduced likelihood of victory. Policymakers should thus carefully evaluate the support given to the opposition of the recipient they are backing.
Liam Anderson, Ph.D. (Committee Chair)
Carlos Costa, Ph.D. (Committee Member)
Vaughn Shannon, Ph.D. (Committee Member)
53 p.
International Relations; Political Science
External support; civil war duration; balance of power; balance of convertibility; fungibility; third-party intervention; external intervention; intrastate conflict; sponsor; resources; proxy war; civil war; civil wars; armed conflict; rebels; government; stalemate; negotiated settlement; funding; ethnic conflict; uncertainty

Recommended Citations

Citations

  • Wolfe, K. L. (2022). The Balance of Convertibility: Manipulating External Support in Civil War [Master's thesis, Wright State University]. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=wright1651864067970211

    APA Style (7th edition)

  • Wolfe, Kimberly. The Balance of Convertibility: Manipulating External Support in Civil War. 2022. Wright State University, Master's thesis. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center, http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=wright1651864067970211.

    MLA Style (8th edition)

  • Wolfe, Kimberly. "The Balance of Convertibility: Manipulating External Support in Civil War." Master's thesis, Wright State University, 2022. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=wright1651864067970211

    Chicago Manual of Style (17th edition)

wright1651864067970211
159
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This open access ETD is published by Wright State University and OhioLINK.