Friday, December 16th, 2016 Why Do Armed Nonstate Groups Recruit Foreign Fighters?: Evidence from the Syrian Civil War

DateTimeLocation
Friday, December 16, 201612:00PM - 2:00PMSeminar Room 208N, 1 Devonshire Place

Description

Why do armed nonstate groups seek foreign fighters? Despite the increased interest in the phenomenon of foreign fighters, strengthened by the stream of volunteers rushing to join the civil wars in Syria and Iraq, the question has yet to receive a theoretical and systematic treatment. Most works focus on the “supply” side (the foreign fighter) and ignore the “demand” side (the armed nonstate actors). This study begins filling the gap by explaining the conditions under which an armed nonstate actor is likely to accept, and even purposefully recruit, foreign fighters. During this discussion Barak Mendelsohn will identify four factors that affect groups’ decisions to take in foreign fighters, and look at four cases from the civil war in Syria to probe their validity.


Speakers

Barak Mendelsohn
Associate Professor of Political Science, Haverford College


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