The Dynamics of Violence in Vietnam: An Analysis of the Hamlet Evaluation System (HES)

Stathis N. Kalyvas and Matthew Adam Kocher
Additional contact information
Stathis N. Kalyvas: Department of Political Science, Yale University, stathis.kalyvas@yale.edu
Matthew Adam Kocher: Department of Political Science, Yale University, matthew.kocher@yale.edu

Journal of Peace Research, 2009, vol. 46, issue 3, 335-355

Abstract: The authors analyze a unique data source to study the determinants of violence against civilians in a civil war context. During the Vietnam War, the United States Department of Defense pioneered the use of quantitative analysis for operational purposes. The centerpiece of that effort was the Hamlet Evaluation System (HES), a monthly and quarterly rating of `the status of pacification at the hamlet and village level throughout the Republic of Vietnam'. Consistent with existing theoretical claims, the authors find that homicidal violence against civilians was a function of the level of territorial control exercised by the rival sides: Vietnamese insurgents relied on selective violence primarily where they enjoyed predominant, but not full, control; South Vietnamese government and US forces exercised indiscriminate violence primarily in the most rebel-dominated areas. Violence was less common in the most contested areas. The absence of spatial overlap between insurgent selective and incumbent indiscriminate violence, as well as the relative absence of violence from contested areas, demonstrates both the fundamental divergence between irregular and conventional war and the need for cautious use of violent events as indicators of conflict.

Date: 2009
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (11)

Downloads: (external link)
http://jpr.sagepub.com/content/46/3/335.abstract (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:sae:joupea:v:46:y:2009:i:3:p:335-355

Access Statistics for this article

More articles in Journal of Peace Research from Peace Research Institute Oslo
Bibliographic data for series maintained by SAGE Publications ().