Mobilizing the Masses for Genocide

Thorsten Rogall

American Economic Review, 2021, vol. 111, issue 1, 41-72

Abstract: Do political elites use armed groups to foster civilian participation in genocidal violence? Are armed groups employed strategically? How do they mobilize civilians? I investigate these questions using data from the Rwandan Genocide. To establish causality, I exploit exogenous variation in armed groups' transport costs induced by weather fluctuations: the shortest distance of each village to the main road interacted with rainfall along the dirt tracks between main road and village. I find (i) 1 additional armed-group member resulted in 7.3 more civilian perpetrators; (ii) armed-group leaders employed their men strategically; and (iii) armed groups invoked civilians' obedience.

JEL-codes: D72 D74 O17 Q54 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (17)

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DOI: 10.1257/aer.20160999

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