Arming Villagers: Pro-Government Militias, Violence and Displacement in the Nepal Conflict

The goal of this study is to explore factors associated with the degree and spread of violence at the micro level during civil wars. We know something about the political, economic, and geographic correlates of conflict. Less work has been done on understanding how conflict evolves and the actors involved, and notably those involved on the government side. Drawing on the analysis of delegation, this study investigates the consequences for civilian welfare of a decision to delegate security tasks to non-state actors in the second phase of the civil war in Nepal. Using newly collected data at the village development committee (VDC) level in Nepal, we examine the micro-level dynamics of the variation in the intensity of violence across the country and the geographic spread of violence during the decade long civil war.