Date of Award

5-2024

Degree Type

Dissertation

Degree Name

Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

School

Coastal Resilience

Committee Chair

Dr. Joseph St. Marie

Committee Chair School

Coastal Resilience

Committee Member 2

Dr. Robert Pauly

Committee Member 2 School

Coastal Resilience

Committee Member 3

Dr. Prebble Ramswell

Committee Member 4

Dr. Tom Lansford

Committee Member 4 School

Coastal Resilience

Abstract

Why are some insurgencies small in scale but long-term in duration, particularly those involving natural resource wealth? This dissertation identifies and defines a specific type of intrastate conflict, the micro-insurgency. I then examine how and why micro-insurgencies fought over natural resources are almost always very long-term conflicts, often lasting decades. Two data sets from previous research, one by Michael Ross and the other by Paul Collier and Anke Hoeffler, are refined and then analyzed and tested using Fuzzy set Qualitative Comparative Analysis (FsQCA). Findings from the FsQCA testing and analysis reveal that ancestral lands and actual, or existing and exploitable, natural resources overwhelmingly contribute to the long-term duration of micro-insurgencies. Findings from four micro-insurgency case studies-Balochistan, Pakistan, the FARC in Colombia, the Moro conflict in the Southern Philippines, and the conflict in West Papua, Indonesia confirm the relevance of the influence of historical, ancestral lands upon conflict duration. Secondary to ancestral lands, actual and exploitable natural resources within the conflict zone are found to be highly influential upon the duration of micro-insurgency conflict. The combination of actual natural resources and historical, ancestral lands with the objective of some degree of autonomy or secession is the strongest complete configuration that explains the dynamics of long-duration micro-insurgencies.

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