What is it about?
When insurgents do not control territory, the anonymity of urban areas makes it easier for people to engage in anti-government activities. Using data from the French resistance, we show that there were more insurgents in urban areas and (controlling for numbers of insurgents) fewer insurgent arrests in cities than in rural areas.
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Why is it important?
It helps to explain why recent insurgencies in places like Iraq have been particularly effective in cities.
Perspectives
Most people assume that rural areas are fertile ground for insurgencies because some guerrillas have succeeded in using them as bases. But as I learned in visiting my grandparents' farm in rural West Virginia, people in rural areas have a great deal of knowledge about their neighbors' activities. The rich information environment makes people less likely to choose to engage in anti-government activity. If state agents can get access to that knowledge, they could be particularly effective in suppressing the insurgency.
Thomas M. Dolan
University of Central Florida
Read the Original
This page is a summary of: Where the Insurgents Aren’t, Journal of Conflict Resolution, December 2016, SAGE Publications,
DOI: 10.1177/0022002716678985.
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