American Economic Review
ISSN 0002-8282 (Print) | ISSN 1944-7981 (Online)
Mobilizing the Masses for Genocide
American Economic Review
vol. 111,
no. 1, January 2021
(pp. 41–72)
(Complimentary)
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.Citation
Rogall, Thorsten. 2021. "Mobilizing the Masses for Genocide." American Economic Review, 111 (1): 41–72. DOI: 10.1257/aer.20160999Additional Materials
JEL Classification
- D72 Political Processes: Rent-seeking, Lobbying, Elections, Legislatures, and Voting Behavior
- D74 Conflict; Conflict Resolution; Alliances; Revolutions
- O17 Formal and Informal Sectors; Shadow Economy; Institutional Arrangements
- Q54 Climate; Natural Disasters and Their Management; Global Warming