| ID | 119717 |
| Title Proper | How wartime violence affects social cohesion |
| Other Title Information | the spatial-temporal gravity model |
| Language | ENG |
| Author | Weidmann, Nils B ; Zurcher, Christoph |
| Publication | 2013. |
| Summary / Abstract (Note) | Local communities such as villages are commonly assumed to be vital partners in counterinsurgency and post-conflict reconstruction. However, the success of all policies based on this assumption depends on the level of social cohesion at the community level: communities with internal cleavages and fissures will be less effective in making external efforts a success. In this article, we study how exposure to violence during civil war affects the internal cohesion of a community. On the one hand, we could assume that exposure to a common threat strengthens social ties. On the other hand, shifting power structures in conflict regions could introduce new loyalties and cleavages at the village level, thus eroding a community's social glue. We use data from a survey conducted in northern Afghanistan and combine it with the data on violent events from military records. Our results provide evidence for the second mechanism: exposure to violence causes villagers to diverge in their support for conflicting parties. We estimate a spatial-temporal gravity model, where spatially and temporally proximate events have the highest impact on this divergence at the village level. |
| `In' analytical Note | Civil Wars Vol. 15, No.1; Mar 2013: p.1-18 |
| Journal Source | Civil Wars Vol. 15, No.1; Mar 2013: p.1-18 |
| Key Words | Counterinsurgency ; Post Conflict Reconstruction ; Civil War ; Community ; Northern Afghanistan ; Spatial - Temporal Gravity Model |