Description
The establishment of rebel governance is a common phenomenon in civil wars, present in 64% of cases from 1945 to 2012. The current literature investigated the strategic logic of rebel governance and the type of rebel institutions established by non-state armed actors. To this extent, where rebel governance is established is often neglected, particularly in non-ethnic conflict, where ethnicity is a salient variable in explaining where rebels establish their governing institution. By analysing the cases of the Italian Civil War (1943-1945), the paper aims to understand why rebel groups decided to establish rebel governance institutions in some areas of the country, and why not in others. Preliminary results suggest that military dynamics affect the likelihood of rebel governance emergence, particularly in territories located in rough terrain, while civilian long-standing aversion to the incumbent is not predictive of rebel governance emergence.
