The creation of committed combatants

Roos Haer and Lilli Banholzer

Small Wars and Insurgencies, 2015, vol. 26, issue 1, 25-48

Abstract: Theories on conflict behaviour regard armed groups as unitary actors whose members faithfully execute the orders of their leaders. Nevertheless, in reality mutinies, insubordination and fractionalisation occur. We argue that the faithful execution of orders depends on the level of organisational commitment of combatants. This level can be increased with the help of four management strategies. Using a dataset based on fieldwork in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, we analyse the influence of each of these strategies. The Bayesian analyses show that recruitment, training and promotion has statistical reliable influence, but that providing rewards does not.

Date: 2015
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DOI: 10.1080/09592318.2014.959767

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