Indirect Interventions in Civil Wars

Current research on motivational sources of military interventions in civil wars frequently assumes that states intervene due to direct interests in the civil war country. However, this study argues that there exists a subset of interventions in which weaker powers intervene on behalf of interests which great powers hold vis-à-vis the civil war country. Using the logic of principal-agent theory in combination with arms trade data allows one to identify 14 civil wars which experienced the phenomenon of indirect military interventions. This type of intervention features a weaker power providing troops for combat missions, whereas its major arms supplier is only involved with indirect military support. The analysis is complemented with two brief case studies on the Moroccan intervention in Zaire (1977) and the Ugandan intervention in the Central African Republic (2009). Both case studies corroborate expectations as deduced from the proxy intervention framework

Causes of Civil Wars: The Influence of Natural Resurces Extractive Technologies on the Probability of Civil War Outbreak

This study aimed to provide more general knowledge about the mechanisms which link natural resources with civil war outbreaks. The theoretical point of departure was the feasibility hypothesis hypothesis of Collier et al. (2009) in which the authors state that the paramount interest of researchers of civil wars should be directed at the structural conditions within a country. One of their assertions pertained to the role of natural resources. Those provide a potential revenue source for insurgents to finance their rebellion. Hence, the higher the dependence of a state on natural resource exports, the higher should be the probability of civil war outbreak. However, this account was heavily criticized by other researchers. Some claimed that the conceptualization of the Primary Commodity Exports (PCE) variable does not cover relevant natural resources (Fearon 2005), others pointed at the problem of reversed causality and endogeneity (Gleditsch 1998) and also others stressed to differentiate between different natural resources according to their proneness to be looted by rebels (Ross 2003). In order to address these problems, a new variable was conceptualized. The "extraction feasibility" variable measures the degree of extractability of a particular resource. It is composed of two notions, namely..

Vojenské intervence v občanských válkách: role přímých zahraničních investic a intervencí v zastoupení na motivaci intervenovat

The current international system with its emphasis on state sovereignty was designed to restrain interference in domestic affairs by other states. However, this notion has been repeatedly challenged throughout the past 70 years by states intervening with military instruments in internal armed conflicts. Possible motives that led states to jeopardize the lives of their soldiers and convinced them to bear the costs of interventions have engendered a rich debate in the studies of International Relations and Peace and Conflict Studies. In this dissertation, two arguments based on the logic of the realist theory of international relations are brought forward to augment our understanding of factors contributing to military interventionism. First, it is shown that economic linkages between states transcend the debate on trade and include the effects of foreign direct investment on their willingness to intervene by force. Corporate investment is shown to significantly raise the willingness of states to intervene when existing FDI is endangered by the dynamics unfolding during internal armed conflicts. Second, great powers are apt to harness other states to alter the conflict dynamics in civil wars. Applying the principal-agent framework in combination with the logic of arms trade allows identifying unequal...Stávající mezinárodní systém s důrazem na státní suverenitu byl navržen tak, aby omezil vměšování do vnitřních záležitostí jiných států. Tento předpoklad však v uplynulých 70 letech narušovaly státy vojenskými intervencemi do vnitrostátních ozbrojených konfliktů. Důvody, které vedly státy k riskování životů jejich vojáků a přesvědčily je o potřebě nést náklady takových intervencí, vyvolaly v rámci oborů mezinárodních vztahů a mírových a konfliktních studií živou debatu. V této disertační práci jsou představeny dva argumenty, vycházející z logiky realistické teorie mezinárodních vztahů, které se snaží přispět k lepšímu pochopení faktorů, jež přispívají k vojenskému intervencionismu. Za prvé, práce ukazuje, že ekonomické vazby mezi státy jdou daleko za rámec debaty o mezinárodním obchodu a zahrnují dopady přímých zahraničních investic na ochotu k vojenským intervencím. Provedený výzkum potvrdil, že státy jsou významně ochotnější intervenovat, pokud jsou existující investice jejich domovských firem ohroženy dynamikou vnitrostátních ozbrojených konfliktů. Za druhé, velmoci jsou schopny využívat třetí státy, aby ovlivnily konfliktní dynamiku v občanských válkách. Aplikace konceptuálního rámce vztahu principála a agenta (principal-agent problem) v kombinaci s logikou obchodu se zbraněmi umožnila...Department of Political ScienceKatedra politologieFakulta sociálních vědFaculty of Social Science

Military interventions in civil wars: the role of foreign direct investments and proxy interventions in the motivation to intervene

The current international system with its emphasis on state sovereignty was designed to restrain interference in domestic affairs by other states. However, this notion has been repeatedly challenged throughout the past 70 years by states intervening with military instruments in internal armed conflicts. Possible motives that led states to jeopardize the lives of their soldiers and convinced them to bear the costs of interventions have engendered a rich debate in the studies of International Relations and Peace and Conflict Studies. In this dissertation, two arguments based on the logic of the realist theory of international relations are brought forward to augment our understanding of factors contributing to military interventionism. First, it is shown that economic linkages between states transcend the debate on trade and include the effects of foreign direct investment on their willingness to intervene by force. Corporate investment is shown to significantly raise the willingness of states to intervene when existing FDI is endangered by the dynamics unfolding during internal armed conflicts. Second, great powers are apt to harness other states to alter the conflict dynamics in civil wars. Applying the principal-agent framework in combination with the logic of arms trade allows identifying unequal..

Military interventions in civil wars: the role of foreign direct investments and proxy interventions in the motivation to intervene

The current international system with its emphasis on state sovereignty was designed to restrain interference in domestic affairs by other states. However, this notion has been repeatedly challenged throughout the past 70 years by states intervening with military instruments in internal armed conflicts. Possible motives that led states to jeopardize the lives of their soldiers and convinced them to bear the costs of interventions have engendered a rich debate in the studies of International Relations and Peace and Conflict Studies. In this dissertation, two arguments based on the logic of the realist theory of international relations are brought forward to augment our understanding of factors contributing to military interventionism. First, it is shown that economic linkages between states transcend the debate on trade and include the effects of foreign direct investment on their willingness to intervene by force. Corporate investment is shown to significantly raise the willingness of states to intervene when existing FDI is endangered by the dynamics unfolding during internal armed conflicts. Second, great powers are apt to harness other states to alter the conflict dynamics in civil wars. Applying the principal-agent framework in combination with the logic of arms trade allows identifying unequal..

Experimental and theoretical analysis of influence of barrier composition on optical properties of GaN/AlGaN multi-quantum wells: Temperature- and pressure-dependent photoluminescence studies

International audienc

Defect-related photoluminescence and photoluminescence excitation as a method to study the excitonic bandgap of AlN epitaxial layers : Experimental and ab initio analysis

We report defect-related photoluminescence (PL) and its vacuum ultraviolet photoluminescence excitation (PLE) spectra of aluminum nitride layers with various layer thicknesses and dislocation densities grown on two different substrates: sapphire and silicon. The defect-related transitions have been distinguished and examined in the emission and excitation spectra investigated under synchrotron radiation. The broad PL bands of two defect levels in the AlN were detected at around 3 eV and 4 eV. In the PLE spectra of these bands, a sharp excitonic peak originating most probably from the A-exciton of AlN was clearly visible. Taking into account the exciton binding energy, the measurements allow determination of the bandgaps of the investigated AlN samples and their temperature dependencies. Next, they are compared with the literature data obtained by other experimental techniques for bulk AlN crystals and layers grown on different substrates. The obtained results revealed that the AlN bandgap depends on the substrate. The theoretical analysis using density functional theory calculations showed that the effect is induced by the tetragonal strain related to the lattice mismatch between the substrate and the AlN layer, which has a strong influence on the spectral positions of the intrinsic excitons, and consequently on the bandgap of AlN layers