Keywords

Repression, africa, irregular civil war, human rights violations

Abstract

When do leaders choose state-sponsored repression as a response to certain threats to the state? Conventional wisdom states that authoritarian regimes will be more likely to use these repressive acts in order to maintain law and order, as well as to suppress the opposition. However, previous literature on the subject fails to recognize the effect of irregular civil wars on this decision, as well as the types of repression that will - or will not - be used against citizens. I analyze cross-sectional time series data in 46 African states between 1990 and 2010 on human rights violations and their causes. The key independent variable is irregular civil war, but I also look at the effects of protest movements and domestic terror attacks to find the levels of human rights violations and the specific type of human rights violations used. Irregular civil war is the most important indicator for human rights violations, specifically, the use of killing and disappearances to silence the opposition and end the warfare.

Graduation Date

2014

Semester

Summer

Advisor

Dolan, Thomas

Degree

Master of Arts (M.A.)

College

College of Sciences

Department

Political Science

Degree Program

Political Science; International Studies

Format

application/pdf

Identifier

CFE0005428

URL

http://purl.fcla.edu/fcla/etd/CFE0005428

Language

English

Release Date

8-15-2014

Length of Campus-only Access

None

Access Status

Masters Thesis (Open Access)

Subjects

Dissertations, Academic -- Sciences; Sciences -- Dissertations, Academic

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