Publication

This publication seeks to explain why some internal wars are more militarily severe than others. The author tests measures of state and rebel capabilities, regime type and cultural characteristics as predictors of total battle losses in internal conflicts as well as in colonial conflicts in the period 1946-2002. The results imply that democracy is a more important factor in containing the battle damage from civil conflict than power parity between states and rebels. Ethnicity and religion are not associated with the most militarily severe civil wars.