Beyond Collateral Damage: The Politics of Civilian Victimization in a Civil War

Abstract

Abstract Under what conditions do states pursue counterinsurgency measures with little disregard for civilian life? This article argues that the states have an incentive to engage in group-selective violence involving disproportionate force when facing a local population sympathetic to an armed insurgent organization. Such a military strategy allows the state to punish the local population while claiming that civilian casualties are an unintended consequence of its counterinsurgency campaign. Using a nuanced measurement of civilian victimization that transcendences the dichotomous distinction between intentional and unintentional killings, this study focuses on the Kurdish conflict in Turkey. The empirical analyses, based on an original violent events dataset, demonstrate that the Turkish state’s counterinsurgency campaign involves group-selective violence characterized by disproportionate force that aims to neutralize domestic and international reactions, punishes dissident political mobilization, and brandishes the government’s nationalist credentials to the majority population.