Friend or Foe: Militia Intelligence and Ethnic Violence in the Lebanese Civil War

Nils Hägerdal's research shows that when militias have access to reliable intelligence, they are less likely to commit ethnic violence. He argues that this is because intelligence helps armed groups distinguish between neutral and hostile non-coethnics, allowing them to target individual opponents while leaving civilians in peace. However, when militias struggle to access local information, they often fall back on ethnicity as a proxy for political allegiance, leading to bloody consequences. This research sheds new light on the logic and dynamics of ethnic violence in civil wars.

Format: Paperback / softback
Length: 240 pages
Publication date: 06 July 2021
Publisher: Columbia University Press

When civil conflicts arise in plural societies, violence frequently manifests along group lines, posing the risk of escalating into ethnic cleansing. However, for militants who do not aim for ethnic separation as a political objective, indiscriminate attacks can be detrimental to their cause. Understanding the circumstances that increase or decrease the likelihood of ethnic violence among such combatants is crucial.

Nils Hägerdal delves into the Lebanese civil war to present a novel theory that emphasizes the interplay between ethnicity and intelligence gathering. He demonstrates that when militias have access to reliable intelligence, particularly in demographically mixed areas where information can transcend ethnic boundaries, they are less likely to employ indiscriminate tactics. Access to local intelligence enables armed groups to differentiate between neutral and hostile non-coethnics, allowing them to target specific opponents while preserving the peace of civilians. On the contrary, when militias struggle to obtain local information, they often resort to ethnicity as a proxy for political allegiance, resulting in violent consequences.

Hägerdal's research spans sixteen months of fieldwork in Lebanon, where he conducted interviews with former militia fighters and commanders and collected novel statistical evidence. He combines documentation from government agencies, NGOs, local news media, and the United Nations with firsthand narratives by participants to offer an unparalleled account of the processes that lead to violence or coexistence in a diverse society plunged into armed conflict. Theoretically innovative and richly descriptive, Friend or Foe sheds new light on the logic and dynamics of ethnic violence in civil wars.

Weight: 344g
Dimension: 153 x 227 x 16 (mm)
ISBN-13: 9780231200653