A Theory of Internal Displacement in Civil War: Rebel Control and Civilian Movement in Sri Lanka

ETH Zurich.

When, where, and why, do people get displaced within the borders of their war‐ridden home countries? This book examines the ubiquitous, yet understudied phenomenon of internal displacement as an integral part of civilian victimization in civil wars. It suggests a novel approach to conflict displacement through the lens of civil war research. Breaking with the unrealistic assumption of static populations prevalent in the state‐of‐the‐art insurgency literature, I argue that the inherent mobility of people across the war space renders them objects of the violent competition between rebels and the government. This book focuses on the role of rebel groups in preventing, or triggering, the movement of civilians as an element of their wartime statecraft, a phenomenon that I refer to as ‘insurgent movement control ’.

URL: https://doi.org/10.3929/ethz-b-000463196

DOI: 10.3929/ethz-b-000463196

Leimpek, Theresa. 2020. “A Theory of Internal Displacement in Civil War: Rebel Control and Civilian Movement in Sri Lanka.” ETH Zurich.

@phdthesis{a-theory-of-internal-displacement-in-civil-war,
   title = {A Theory of Internal Displacement in Civil War: Rebel Control and Civilian Movement in Sri Lanka},
   author = {Leimpek, Theresa},
   school = {ETH Zurich},
   type = {{PhD} dissertation},
   doi = {10.3929/ethz-b-000463196},
   url = {https://doi.org/10.3929/ethz-b-000463196},
   year = {2020},
   abstract = {When, where, and why, do people get displaced within the borders of their war-ridden home countries? This book examines the ubiquitous, yet understudied phenomenon of internal displacement as an integral part of civilian victimization in civil wars. It suggests a novel approach to conflict displacement through the lens of civil war research. Breaking with the unrealistic assumption of static populations prevalent in the state-of-the-art insurgency literature, I argue that the inherent mobility of people across the war space renders them objects of the violent competition between rebels and the government. This book focuses on the role of rebel groups in preventing, or triggering, the movement of civilians as an element of their wartime statecraft, a phenomenon that I refer to as `insurgent movement control '.}
}