Dissertation title: Explaining Diversity and Change in Recruitment Methods of Rebel Groups.

Under what conditions do rebel groups use different methods of recruitment? It is widely known that rebel groups use both coercive and non-coercive methods to recruit their soldiers. In fact, rebel groups often use multiple recruitment methods simultaneously or shift from one set of methods to another. However, political scientists know little about the conditions under which these groups resort to one method or another. The main purpose of this dissertation research is to develop a theory that explains diversity and change in recruitment methods of rebel groups. The research will focus on the organizational resources of rebel groups and their interaction with the state as primary determinants of their recruitment methods. In order to develop hypotheses and test their plausibility, I plan to combine statistical analysis with four case studies on the Lord's Resistance Army in Uganda, the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) in Sri Lanka, the Sudanese People's Liberation Army (SPLA) in Sudan, and the Vietnamese Communists. Since recruitment by rebel groups lies at the heart of the dynamics of civil wars, the project serves to improve our understanding of onset and duration of civil wars. It is also meant to form a building block for the development of a political theory of organization by focusing on organization of rebel groups.