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Abstract This article investigates the determinants of armed group organization and the downstream effects of organization on civil wars. It demonstrates that the interaction between geographical and technological factors influences the types of hierarchical organizations that armed groups develop. It then argues that variations in the types of hierarchies developed by armed groups have important consequences for principal-agent relations, which in turn affect groups' overall level of military effectiveness. Using evidence from field research conducted in Liberia and Sierra Leone, the model's plausibility is examined in comparative case studies of four armed groups that fought in those countries from 1989–2003. I am grateful to the research centers at Northwestern University that granted me funds for the field research I conducted in Liberia and Sierra Leone in the summers of 2004 and 2005: the Center for International and Comparative Studies; Kellogg School of Management's Dispute Resolution Research Center; the Program of African Studies; and The Graduate School. I thank Deborah Avant, Risa Brooks, Kelly Greenhill, William Reno, Andrew Roberts, Hendrik Spruyt, two anonymous reviewers, and the editorial staff at Security Studies, especially Theo Farrell, for their generous comments on earlier drafts. Flo Guerzovich, Kazuhiro Obayashi, David Steinberg, Chris Swarat, and Joe Young provided helpful comments as well. Any remaining errors are mine.
Patrick B. Johnston (Tue,) studied this question.