| Popis: |
What are the social origins of conflict? In a three article dissertation, I analyze how social relations can help explain the spread of suicide terrorism over social ties, historical and contemporary group grievances can explain the onset of transnational political violence, and show that state socialization can help explain the diffusion of political institutions and conflict among groups of states.Article 1: Previous research has attributed the motivations of suicide bombers to religious fervor, political engagement, and organizational strategic goals, among others. However, the processes underlying suicide bomber mobilization may also be related to primary and secondary socialization through family and peer network ties. To better understand the association between kin and peer ties and suicide bomber mobilization, I use a data set of 2,923 individual fighter-level observations of combatants for the Islamic State. These data include individual demographic data and if a combatant volunteered to be a suicide bomber. Through these data, I assess ideational, material, and the social origins of suicide bomber mobilization. I find that a one unit increase in kin or peer network ties is positively associated with a combatant's odds of volunteering to be a suicide bomber. Article 2: Researchers and policymakers have increasingly recognized foreign fighter mobilization as a national security threat to foreign states and domestic populations. Yet, scholars remain divided on the motivations of foreign combatants, arguing that fighters may be motivated by material incentives, grievances, or opportunity. The motivations of foreign fighters may be especially complex, as they are engaging in a conflict outside of their home country. In this article, I analyze how historical and present-day group exclusionary policies affect contemporary patterns of conflict. To do so, I leverage novel data consisting of 4,101 individual fighter data of Islamic State volunteers fighting in Iraq and Syria. I argue that foreign fighters are mobilized by group grievances based on political and social exclusion and opportunity. I find that Islamic State fighters come from areas where Sunni Muslims were denied access to political power and have greater state capacity. Article 3: How do groups of cooperative states with similar political institutions form? Previous research on international regimes has focused on how regimes facilitate cooperation by aligning the incentives of states. Yet, our understanding of the social origins of cooperation in the international system is still limited. This research gap is notable given that social causes are potentially powerful mechanisms for explaining the characteristics and behaviors of states. If social relations influence the domestic organization of and conflict among states, then associations between these outcomes could lead to spurious correlations on the causes of conflict. I connect these processes and argue that social relations affect the domestic organization of states through socialization and conflict among states through in-group bias. Together, these dynamics create cooperative regimes, or groups of states with similar political and economic institutions that exhibit a higher level of intra-group cooperation along multiple dimensions. |
