| ID | 120205 |
| Title Proper | Costs of coercion |
| Other Title Information | modern Southeast Asia in comparative perspective |
| Language | ENG |
| Author | Hamilton-Hart, Natasha |
| Publication | 2013. |
| Summary / Abstract (Note) | Violent conflict tends to be costly overall, but can, under some conditions, yield net gains for the initiators of violence, thus creating incentives for coercion. This article explores the economic incentives for coercion across three different arenas and types of conflict: international conflict among states, organized political violence within the state, and relatively unorganized domestic conflicts over property rights. Although these conflicts are normally studied in separate scholarly traditions (respectively, international relations, domestic security studies and political economy), drawing from these different traditions can help explain the comparative incidence of coercive force in different conflict arenas by identifying conditions that create incentives for violence. Using cases from Southeast Asia, the article offers an explanation for the empirical pattern of violence in the region being more prevalent currently at the domestic, rather than the international, level and most pervasive in apparently low-level and unorganized forms. At least in part, this pattern is a consequence of the relative stability and consistent protection of what may be thought of as international property rights claims, compared with the greater uncertainty and inconsistency in the enforcement of domestic rights claims. While intuitively paradoxical when viewed through Westphalian lenses, which assume international anarchy and domestic hierarchy, greater contention over domestic rights claims is consistent with the relative asymmetries in coercive capabilities and institutions for dealing with rights claims at the domestic level, compared with the international arena. |
| `In' analytical Note | Pacific Review Vol. 26, No.1; Mar 2013: p.65-87 |
| Journal Source | Pacific Review Vol. 26, No.1; Mar 2013: p.65-87 |
| Key Words | Southeast Asia ; Violence ; Property Rights ; Security ; Economic Incentives |