Show all projects

Fratricidal Defection: How Blood Revenge Shapes Anti-Jihadist Mobilisation

This research proposal seeks to explain why local population mobilises against their co-believers on the side of their former enemies: counterinsurgents. I conceptualise this process as “fratricidal defection” (FD) and argue that the dynamics of FD depends heavily on Jihadist violence against civilians, which ignites the cycle of blood revenge. Jihadists’ targeting of civilians and the latter’s disregard for local traditions and beliefs lead to social, theological, and cultural disagreements between rebels and civilians, which fuel blood revenge-driven mobilization against Jihadists. I argue that while political and sectarian interests may function as significant incentives for anti-Jihadist mobilisation, it is the obligation to revenge – embedded in customary laws of honorific societies – that provides the key mobilisation mechanism for defectors. Drawing upon unique interviews with former members of Chechen insurgency and conflict witnesses as a case study, as well as utilising anecdotal evidence from secondary sources from across the world, a general theory of FD will be tested.

Share this project with others