Patronage politics and patterns of violence

William Reno, Northwestern University, Chicago. The prewar politics of patronage emerges as an important factor in explaining the organization and behaviour of armed groups in cases of violent state collapse. The speaker's project draws from field research in the Niger Delta, Somalia and the Caucasus to explain how these patterns of patronage influence the capacities of communities to control armed young fighters or undermine these efforts. This work addresses the broader and very basic question of why young men with guns obey people without them in some instances but not in others, a key consideration in the study of the micro-politics of violence and the creation of public order.