Low state capacity correlates with insurgent mass abduction and civilian militia formation

Evidence

During the second half of 2002 alone, the LRA abducted nearly five thousand children in northern Uganda while killing 539 civilians and 122 Ugandan soldiers (Human Rights Watch 2003b, 5, 16). As the LRA advanced, local youths formed their own vigilante groups to hunt down LRA warriors (Amnesty International 2004a, 3). All this exemplifies the contentious politics of low-capacity, nondemocratic regimes across the world. — Charles Tilly, Regimes and Repertoires, 502

Categorization

• XREF: Evidence for the capacity axis of Tilly’s regime matrix; useful counterpoint that the state is simultaneously high-capacity in Kampala and low-capacity regionally. — connects to: Indiscriminate repression by weak militarized states breeds revolutionary movements.; Postwar civil wars cluster in high-capacity regimes with ungoverned zones and in low-capacity nondemocracies. — Charles Tilly, Regimes and Repertoires, 803; Armed challengers strike at elections where state capacity is weak — Charles Tilly, Regimes and Repertoires, 381
• corroborated: 2 independent passages support this claim — Charles Tilly, Regimes and Repertoires, 502

Broader Connections

• Indiscriminate repression by weak militarized states breeds revolutionary movements. #expands (0.82)
• Postwar civil wars cluster in high-capacity regimes with ungoverned zones and in low-capacity nondemocracies. #qualifies (0.74) — Charles Tilly, Regimes and Repertoires, 803