Document Type

Article

Publication Date

7-8-2005

Abstract

With more than 8000 deaths in eight years, a Maoist insurgency, reinforced by ethnic cleavages, has resulted in substantial levels of political violence in Nepal. With fresh district-level data, and drawing on theoretical insights from both the conflict and human rights literatures, research that has relied primarily on cross-national comparisons, we develop and test hypotheses using a sub-national research design. We find support for ""opportunistic"" strategic interaction between government and opposition. Opportunity is conceived geographically, politically, and internationally, and our findings contribute new evidence for the importance of geography but also of democracy in their effects on the levels of violence used by both government and opposition.

Sponsors

Nepal Study Center, University of New Mexico, USA

Language

English

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