Rebel Movement Research Articles

The Art Of Arms (Not) Being Governed: Means Of Violence And Shifting Territories In The Borderworlds of Myanmar

ABSTRACT Predominant approaches in the rebel governance literature have looked at control over the means of violence as a prerogative of rebel-rulers, or armed/non-armed actors, somehow deterministically linked to territory. Here weapons have been understood as either autonomous technical-factors or as analytically invisible objects instrumental to human agencies and interactions aiming to territorial control. This paper challenges understandings of control over the means of violence as a central property radiating outwardly through hierarchically and geographically ordered spatial containers. It argues that the means of violence are relational networks among heterogeneous human-non-human entities – e.g. weapons, stockpiles, militarised architectures, forms, armed individuals/groups – that generate territory. These networks are controlled and stabilised via diffused techniques and rationalities of control. Drawing on the study of Ta’ang areas of Northern Shan State – among the few in Myanmar where well-established rebel movements have experienced official disarmament and later undertook a full-fledged re-armament – I find that controlling the means of violence occurs via turbulent combinations of technical objects, techniques and rationalities that relate to four main domains: narcotics eradication; institutionalisation; ethnonationality; and humanitarian security. Processes and practices through which attempts to control the means of violence are made entail alternative strategies to re-generate spatial organisational control and shape multiple shifting territories. Empirically exploring a highly under-researched case, the paper provides a view of the diffused character of controlling the means of violence and its mutually constitutive relations with territory, while illuminating also the role of weapons, other technical objects, and techniques.

Victims or Burdens?: Angolan Refugees and Humanitarian Aid Organizations in the Democratic Republic of Congo, 1961-1963

The onset of the Angolan war of independence in 1961 set off a humanitarian crisis in the Democratic Republic of Congo. By the summer of 1962, the number of Angolans refugees rose to nearly 150,000. The UN High Commission for Refugees [Caritas], the League of Red Cross Societies [LRCS], the Catholic charity Caritas, and Protestant church aid groups all provided aid to Angolans. However, the UNHCR and LRCS quickly viewed the Angolans as overly dependent on humanitarian assistance. Echoing colonial anxieties about unsettled African populations, secular and Catholic organizations tried to resettle refugees. UNHCR and LCRS staff blamed Angolan nationalist leaders for coercing refugees to stay in exile rather than return to their homeland, ignoring how refugees themselves described how Portuguese troops had indiscriminately tortured and murdered civilians. Protestant aid groups actively collaborated with the FNLA Angolan rebel movement, to the displeasure of other aid organizations who contended the Protestants violated the humanitarian ideal of neutrality. This case indicates tensions between humanitarian organizations that considered refugees as a burden in need of continued oversight with others who considered the Angolans as victims of colonialism deserving of help.

Separatism in South Cameroon: Sources and Prospects

In the 2010s, the issue of separatism in Africa gained special significancein connection with the emergence in 2011 ofa new state – the Republic of South Sudan(RSS), where a military and political conflict has continued throughout the entire period of independent development, accompanied by massive casualties among the civilian population. The situation in the RSSunderscores the weakness of secessionism asa tool for solving the problems of nationalidentity, socio-economic development andpolitical marginalization, and also raisesthe question of whether separatism in Africa is able to lead to stability, an improvement in living standards and an increase inthe level of security of citizens of breakawayterritories.The present paper examines the historical background of separatism in SouthCameroon and of organizations andarmed groups fighting for the separation of the region from the Republic of Cameroonand for the independence of the self-declared Republic of Ambazonia. Currently,the country is engulfed in a military andpolitical conflict, the parties to which arethe central (Francophone) government andthe Anglophone secessionist movements,which include dozens of armed groupswith varying goals and interests and whichfight among themselves for influence on local communities, resources, and the rightto represent Cameroon’s Anglophone minority in the international arena. In fact,South Cameroon is now in a state of war ofall against all.The situation in South Cameroon iscompounded by the fact that President PaulBiya’s government simultaneously has tofend off attacks by Boko Haram terrorists inthe far north of the country and deal with asocio-economic crisis, which is accompaniedby rising unemployment, which, in turn, allows insurgents to expand their ranks withrelative ease. The authors note, however,that the separatists do not enjoy the support of the world community and, unlikemany other African rebel movements, receive hardly any financial or military-technical assistance from outside, which doomstheir armed struggle and increases the consequence of a peaceful agreement with thegovernment.

Playing the Ethnic Card: Diversion, Transborder Ethnic Ties, and Sponsorship of Rebel Movements

Abstract Under what circumstances do third-party states oppose governments that marginalize their ethnic kin in foreign civil conflicts? We argue that the effect of transborder ethnic ties on third-party support for rebel movements depends upon two factors: (1) a constellation of ethnic power relations in which an ethnicity with access to political power in a potential intervener but is marginalized in a civil conflict state and (2) the political insecurity of leaders in a potential intervener. Said leaders facing a high probability of removal from office are willing to undertake risky foreign policies, including support for rebel movements, hoping that such actions will generate an ethnically tinged rally effect. We draw upon the literature on diversionary theory to develop an empirical expectation. We then assemble a dataset of potential intervener–civil conflict state dyad-years to model this expectation. The political insecurity of leaders is measured with a variety of proxies. Our findings suggest that the well-known diversionary theory can be applied to a novel dependent variable that of third-party state sponsorship of rebel movements.

The Barbet Movement in the Times of the French Revolution: Peasants, Counter-Revolutionaries, Bandits?

During the French Revolution, an anti-French rebel movement, known as the barbets, took place at the territories of the County of Nice and Piedmont. Barbets were the forerunners of the Italian Insorgenze of 1796—1814. At the territories where the barbets units operated, the power of the new French administration was weak, the roads were unsafe, robbery and smuggling flourished. From time to time, small and large uprisings broke out in rural communes and cities in the region. The Nice region and part of Piedmont were in a state of permanent civil war, which in the official French discourse was called “banditisme” or “brigandage”. The rise of the Barbet movement was in 1796—1800. Only at the time of the Consulate the French government managed to partially eliminate this threat to order and civil peace. The author of the article, based on archive sources and newest historiography, presents a new view on the barbet movement, paying a special attention to clan conflicts among rioters and the social composition of this popular movement in general.

The Antonov rebel detachments in the territory of the Balashov uyezd of the Saratov gubernia (1920–1921)

The Civil War is one of the largest tragedies in the history of our country. One of its dramatic episodes is the rebel movement led by A.S. Antonov which took place in the Tambov gubenia in 1920–1921 and was brutally suppressed by the Bolsheviks. Its scope is evidenced by the fact that it went beyond the borders of the Tambov gubernia. Separate detachments of Antonovites from the autumn of 1920 to the summer of 1921 raided the territory of the Balashov uyezd of the neighboring Saratov gubernia. The paper attempts to consider the way the uyezd authorities fought the rebels and the way civilians treated them. On the basis of an analysis of the local archival material most of which has not yet been put into scientific circulation, periodicals and the local history literature the author comes to the following conclusion: every time the invasions of Antonov’s detachments into the territory of the Balashov uyezd were so rapid that the local authorities did not manage to organize a proper rebuff, and the peasants, for the most part, supported the rebels since they saw spokesmen and defenders of their interests in them. Only frequent requisitions of peasants’ property by Antonovites as well as the replacement of the surplus appropriation system (Prodrazvyorstka) by the tax in kind (Prodnalog) led to the fact that since the spring of 1921 the support of the rebels by the local population ceased.

Using graph embedding and machine learning to identify rebels on twitter

Abstract During the last two decades, the number of incidents from extremists have increased, so as the use of social media. Research suggests that extremists use social media for reaching their purposes like recruitment, fund raising, and propaganda. Limited research is available to identify rebel users on social media platforms. Therefore, we propose a Supervised Rebel Identification (SRI) framework to identify rebels on Twitter. The framework consists of a novel mechanism to structure the users’ tweets into a directed user graph. This user graph links predicates (verbs) with the subject and object words to understand semantics of the underlying data. We convert the user graph into graph embedding to use these semantics within the machine learning algorithms. Apart from the user graph and its embedding, we propose fourteen other features belonging to tweets’ contents and users’ profiles. For evaluation, we present the first multicultural and multiregional dataset of rebels affiliated with nine rebel movements belonging to five countries. We evaluate the proposed SRI framework against two state-of-the-art baselines. The results show that the SRI framework outperforms the baselines with high accuracy.

Women of Southern Ukraine in the peasant uprisings of the first third of the 20th century

The purpose of the article is to show the participation of Ukrainian women in the peasant rebel movement in the South of Ukraine. Methods of research: ideographic, historical-typological and historical-comparative. Main results. The women’s movement, which manifested itself with particular force in the critical periods of history – the Ukrainian Revolution, the removal of church values and collectivization should be considered as a significant part of the South-Ukrainian rebellion. For the past years, the role of women in rebel movement of peasants has not been a subject of a separate historical study. Only in recent years, the activities of women in the times of Atamanschyna and the confrontation of various authorities in Ukraine has attracted the attention of historians. The article attempts to consider a gender aspect of insurgent movement of Southern Ukraine population. The more tragic the situation in Ukraine was, the more women participated in armed struggle, in particular, in the ranks of peasant insurgent detachments. Revolutionary uprisings took place mainly in the period of the Ukrainian Revolution. They were supported by women having an active life position. It is important to study the life of six “Marusya atamans”: Marusya Sokolovska, “Black Marusya”, Maria Kosova, “Bloody Maria”, Maria Tarasenko, Marusya (Maria Nikiforova).The religious women’s uprisings took place in Mykolayiv region in the spring of 1922 during the requisition of church values, when women resisted their carrying off in Otbedo-Vasylivska volost. The “Case” of Barmashova had the greatest resonance which was transformed from criminal to political one. In the South of Ukraine, the most famous female riots in 1929 took place in Birzulsky district of Odessa Oblast (Region). The problems of women in the Makhno insurgent movement requires a special study. It is important because, for example, the fate of G. Kuzmenko (the wife of N. Makhno) is learned to a greater or lesser extent, but the activity of other women is covered superficially. The author believes that the study of the rebel movement active participants’ biographies, involving the methods of other sciences, psychology in particular, is a prospective one. Originality: unpublished eyewitness testimonies from the Personal Archives of the Priest Rak Valentin of Church of the Nativity of Christ, Vasilivka village’as well as materials from the Central State Archives of Public Associations of Ukraine and the State Archives of Mykolayiv Oblast (Region) are used. Scientific novelty: the typology of women’s uprisings in the South of Ukraine is proposed for the first time – revolutionary, religious and women’s riots. Type of the article: descriptive-analytical.

Guerrillas and authoritarians: Partners in post-war polarization

Despite a violent and extremist past, some armed rebel movements often abandon their arms and successfully contest power through elections. This paper seeks to understand the environmental factors that determine an insurgent successor party’s electoral success. Using first a cross-national analysis of insurgent successor party performance and then a subnational analysis of Salvadoran elections from 1994–2019, it is shown that the party’s ability to leverage identities forged during the war and organize its appeals along a highly polarized pro- and anti-government axis is crucial to electoral success. This is understood as an organizational capability, the capacity to oppose. At the national level, the existence of an authoritarian successor party increases the longevity of such polarization while subnationally levels of violence help to solidify the wartime cleavage as the most important for local politics.

Штаб дивизии РККА о заволжском повстанчестве начала 1920-х годов

The paper introduces into scientific circulation a document discovered in the Russian State Military Archive funds and presents the author’s comments on it. The document highlights the course of struggle against the anti-Bolshevik rebellion movement in the Volga region in the first year of New Economic Policy and is an analytical product of the military commanders involved in this struggle. Due to this fact, the document analysis allows better understanding the specificity of the military situation in the Lower Volga and Ural combat theatres in 1921-1922. The report under discussion presents the military leadership’s views on the nature of the rebellion and prospects of struggle with the rebels, provides a political analysis of the rebels’ actions and motives. Scientific originality of the study lies in the fact that the researcher introduces into scientific circulation an important document, which contains new factual material and speculations on the final stage of the Civil War in Russia. The research findings are as follows: the author shows that the military authorities were seriously concerned about the rise of the anti-Bolshevik rebel movement and suggested severe measures to suppress it.

AZƏRBAYCANDA MİLLİ ŞÜURUN İNKİŞAFINDA QAÇAQ HƏRƏKATININ ROLU

The article discusses the role of the "gachag movement (a form of rebel movement of fugitives)" in the formation of national self-consciousness in the north of Azerbaijan, the reasons for its occurrence, an appreciation of their struggle against the russian imperial regime and against the dishonesty of local oppressors by this regime, explores the causes of popular love, praise, protection and the creation of heroic epics about them. The article reveals the special activities of such famous fugitives who gained respect among ordinary people for their courage in the second half of the 19th and early 20th centuries, us Gachag Nyabi from Gubadli (in the former Zangezur district), Dely Alu and Gambar from Ganja, Suleiman, Murtuza and Mamed-Bek Cavalier from Karabakh, Yusif from Zagatala, Karim Efendi oglu Gutgashenli from Nukha, Gachag Karim from Gazakh and the woman Gachag Gulsum from Shamkir popularly known as “Gachag Suleiman”. The article emphasizes not only the national character of the "gachag movement" in Azerbaijan, but also their contribution to the formation of national self-consciousness to a greater extent than the role of thinkers of that time. Key words: North Azerbaijan, national identity, the Russian imperial regime, the "gachag movement", the occupation of Russian imperia, the 19th century, the struggle, local beks (nobles), gentlemen (little nobles)

Katerynoslav Region rebellion in 1920–1921 according to the Report of the Katerynoslav Provincial Emergency Commission

The purpose of the article is to find out and analyze the data of the report of the Katerynoslav Provincial Extraordinary Commission on the actions of the regional insurgent movement at the final stage of the revolution of 1917–1921; to prove the scientific significance of this historical source for further studies of the events of the Ukrainian Revolution of 1917–1921 and of the Ukrainian rebel movement during the Revolution and in the post-revolutionary time. Methods of research: chronological, comparative, biographical. The main results: an array of data from The Report of the Katerynoslav Provincial Extraordinary Commission on the rebel movement on the territory of the province in 1920–1921 was discovered; the terminology of the state document related to counterinsurgency has been analyzed; it was established that the Katerynoslav Chekists distinguished two main types of insurgency – Makhno and Petliur; describes the dynamics of the deployment of the insurgent movement in Katerynoslav region at the final stage of the revolution; ideological foundations of the state counteraction to the insurgency have been identified; focuses on the most characteristic means of fighting the Katerynoslav Provincial Emergency Commission against the Ukrainian armed resistance movement. Practical significance: the results of the work can be used in synthetic works on the history of Ukraine during the revolution of 1917–1921, to develop special courses in the history of Ukraine. These materials can also be used to promote historical knowledge. Originality: the work is completely original, contains criticism of a complex historical source, has elements of comparative analysis. Scientific novelty: first attempt was made to comprehensively withdraw from The Report of the Katerynoslav Provincial Emergency Commission and to analyze data on the dynamics of the insurgent movement in the province in 1920–1921, as well as measures of the Chekists to suppress it. Type of article: overview.

Los ecos indianos del gran levantamiento de Tupac Amaru y su proyección peninsular: un episodio olvidado

El movimiento rebelde encabezado por Tupac Amaru II entre 1780 y 1781 no se circunscribió a unas coordenadas espacio-temporales demarcadas por su repercusión en el escenario peruano y altoperuano. En este trabajo analizamos el tortuoso itinerario seguido por los prisioneros tupamaristas tanto en su paso por Chile como en su destino final en España. En el caso chileno se incidirá en el temor que entre las autoridades provocó la presencia temporal de estos reos sobre todo como posible contagio social. En lo que se refiere a los escasos reos tupamaristas que sobrevivieron a los naufragios de los navíos San Pedro de Alcántara y El Peruano y llegaron a España, se centrará la atención en sus trayectorias hasta que fueron confinados en los presidios norteafricanos.

Flight Performance Analysis of the Samad Attack Drones Operated by Houthi Armed Forces

In recent years, there has been a large increase in the use of uncrewed attack aircraft, or attack drones, in the Yemen conflict. At the same time, the flight endurance and payload capabilities of these uncrewed aerial vehicles seem to have increased significantly. This article presents a flight performance analysis of the Samad aircraft family operated by Ansar Allah, the Houthi rebel movement. The analysis is based on information available in the public domain and accounts for modeling uncertainties, and terrain under weather conditions typical for Yemen and Saudi Arabia. With only limited data available in the form of images, the analysis method assesses the flight performance of fixed-wing attack aircraft with high aspect ratio wings and powered by piston engines and propellers. Results demonstrate that it is highly unlikely that the Samad-2 version could reach strategic locations in Saudi Arabia when launched from Houthi-controlled territory. The analysis shows that Samad-3, however, can achieve a flight range in excess of 1800 km, bringing Riyadh and oil installations near the Persian Gulf into reach. The results of the study can be used to predict the locations from which the Samad UAV can be deployed in an attack. Furthermore, it gives insight into the increasing threat of this type of UAV when employed by non-state actors. The methods and tools developed in this study can be used to analyze the capabilities of other UAV with similar configurations.

Warlords to Politicians: The Transformation of Rebel Leaders in Africa (on the Example of Sierra Leone)

The paper analyzes the processes of transformation of leaders of rebel movements and tribal militias (warlords) into leaders of political parties and senior government officials after the end of the Civil War (1991‑2002) in Sierra Leone. It is argued that the opportunities for an anti‑government (or, on the contrary, pro‑government) armed group to become an officially recognized political organization, and for erstwhile field commanders to become its leaders, emerge either in the event of a rebel victory or after the signing of a peace agreement (as it happened in Sierra Leone) and the beginning of the integration of former militants into the post‑war society. It is usually the implementation of disarmament, demobilization and reintegration programs that allows former rebels and their leaders to escape punishment for crimes committed during conflicts. At the same time, the opportunity to “earn forgiveness” is not the only incentive for a warlord to evolve into a peacetime politician. Indeed, gaining political power in African countries entails access to various sources of enrichment, and since running armed groups requires their leaders to possess organizational and entrepreneurial skills and charisma ‑ naturally, along with less positive character traits ‑ many warlords who have not yet fulfilled their political ambitions or secured their financial situation try to “adapt” their wartime skills and experience to peaceful life. A proven way of gaining power peacefully is by participating in presidential and parliamentary elections. It is assumed that the development of a political career by former rebels in the context of peacebuilding should prevent the unfolding of another spiral of violence, but this is far from always the case: accustomed to achieving goals by military means, they often attempt to solve political issues through violence in peacetime. The paper considers the reasons for certain former rebel leaders to remain committed to peacebuilding and for other warlords to prove unable to achieve political goals by peaceful means.

Thandika, Indefatigably Human

This article is a tribute to the late Thandika Mkandawire, who passed away on 27 March 2020. It remarks on Thandika’s essential simplicity and humour, and highlights his contribution to our understanding of the state and the peasantry in Africa. He put forward the thesis that post-colonial rebel movements have been largely urban-based aiming to conquer power whose seat is essentially in urban centres. This thesis needs to be revisited critically and debated, especially in the context of widespread land grabbing, which has shifted the terrain of struggle in the countryside.

Promyshlennovsky District during the Period of Social Cataclysm of 1917–1919

The article deals with the social and political situation in the Kasminsk, Tarsminsk, Titovsk, and Morozovsk volosts (districts) of the Kuznetsk uyezd (area), Tomsk Province, in 1917–1919. The territories in question were inhabited by long-time Russian residents. The Revolution affected the largest settlements. Titovsk area was included in the system of Kuznetsk area people's assembly, while Kasminsk district was under the supervision of the so-called zemstvo from the very beginning. Soldiers from reserve regiments of Tomsk and Novonikolaevsk were sent to field work and had a destructive impact on the local life. Anarchists (G. F. Rogov, I. P. Novoselov, P. K. Lubkov, I. M. Drozhzhin, etc.) and their military units played a significant role in the partisan and rebel movement. V. P. Shevelyov-Lubkov (1892–1939) became the most famous Red leader in the territory. He was an old settler from the village of Shipitsina in the Titovsk district and a decorated army veteran. The Whites were defeated in the late 1919, which brought no relief as anarchist squads maintained their attacks on the Soviet troops. In 1921, peasants in the village of Bryukhanovo rebelled. The last pockets of resistance were eliminated as late as in 1922.

ВОССТАНИЯ РАБОВ-МУСУЛЬМАН И КРИСТАЛЛИЗАЦИЯ ГРАЖДАНСКОГО ПЛЮРАЛИЗМА В БРАЗИЛИИ

The article considers a series of revolts and rebel movements of black slaves in Brazil during the first third of the 19th century. The role of the Muslim community in the abolitionist processes of the largest South American state is highlighted. The author explores the process of formation of a multi-ethnic and multi-religious civil society in Brazil as a result of the revolutionary activity of enslaved African immigrants. A panoramic view of the search by the black population for new dimensions of identity and cultural genealogy of Afro-Brazilian religious practices is given.

Rebel fragmentation in Syria’s civil war

ABSTRACTIn rebel-held Syria, an array of rebel organisations are nominally allied in their fight against the Syrian government and yet they remain internally divided. Rather than being a rare occurrence, fragmentation within rebel movements is a common phenomenon with wide-ranging consequences for its chances of success. The objective of this paper is to explain what has caused fragmented to occur in Syria from 2011 to 2017. Using a three-dimensional conceptualisation of rebel fragmentation, we identify based on Bakke et al’s, we identify and analyse the causes of rebel fragmentation within the Syrian rebel movement and illustrate how these dynamics have influenced the overall degree of fragmentation throughout four phases of the conflict. The study finds that the splintering of the Syrian rebel movement is a second-order effect of historical, structural and geopolitical factors generally outside the immediate control of the non-state actors.

Повстанческое движение в Балашовском уезде Саратовской губернии в годы Гражданской войны на страницах местных газет

Повстанческое движение в Балашовском уезде Саратовской губернии в годы Гражданской войны на страницах местных газет