Rebel Rulers: Insurgent governance and civilian life during war

Rebel groups are often portrayed as mere predators. Yet some groups establish governance systems that deliver public services to the population. Why would they do this? This is the question that Rebel Rulers addresses. The empirical basis for this innovative study consists of three case studies. The author looks at the governance systems set up by the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) in Sri Lanka, the Rally for Congolese Democracy (RCD) in Congo, and the Sudan People's Liberation Movement/Army (SPLM/A). There is a puzzling variance between these three cases: the Tamil Tigers successfully set up relatively effective governance structures that provided public services to the population living in the territories controlled by the LTTE. The LTTE even managed to enrol the government of Sri Lanka in bankrolling some of these services, a fact which the author attributes to the desire of the government to maintain some ties with its population in rebel territories. By contrast, the Rwandan and Congo-backed RCD insurgency never managed to install a minimally effective governance system. The third case – the SPLM/A in Southern Sudan – holds the middle ground. The SPML/A was relatively successful in enlisting NGOs and international agencies in its attempts to develop a governance system. It managed to develop a partially effective governance system that provided a degree of stability in parts of South Sudan, but failed to meet other basic needs, such as food security or basic healthcare.