Research

Book Project

The Foreign Foundations of Civil War: International Politics and the Organization of Rebellion

States frequently seek to engage in proxy conflict to achieve their foreign policy objectives. While many states provide support to armed groups already engaged in conflict against a target government, some states — such as Iran, Rwanda, and Russia — choose to form new armed groups to serve as their proxies. These new groups are organized with the direct help of state sponsors, receiving foreign assistance in mobilizing and recruiting members, selecting leaders, and building organizational structures and military capacity. Why do states create new armed groups? How are these “foreign founded” organizations different from other militant groups, and what impact do they have on armed conflict? 

My book project seeks to answer these questions, drawing on a new large-N dataset of founding support and several case studies based on archival evidence. The book introduces a new theory of founding support that aims to explain why, how, and under what conditions states pursue this unique delegation strategy. The book also examines the effects of founding support on armed conflict, showing that foreign founded groups are more capable and violent actors than militant organizations that formed independently. Overall, this project demonstrates that foreign states play an influential and relevant role in proliferation of violent non-state actors.

Academic Publications

Working Papers

  • Rebel Purges and Leader Survival: Maintaining Power through Purges in Rebel Organizations (Revise and Resubmit)
  • Foreign State-Sponsored Rebel Formation and Violence in Civil War
  • Fending off Fragmentation: How Rebel Leaders Manage Internal Splits
  • From Local to Transnational: When Rebel Violence Travels Across Borders
  • The Mapping Militants Project: An Updated Resource for Studying Militant Group Dynamics and Networks

Policy Reports and Opinion Publications

Original Datasets

  • Crenshaw, M., & Robinson, K. (2025). Mapping Militants Project. Rice University. https://doi.org/10.25613/G0K4-WF70 Principal investigator on this project since 2023. Qualitative long-form profiles on 130+ militant groups that document their formation, development, and behavior. Profiles can run 20+ pages in length and include hundreds of footnotes with cited sources. Also includes quantitative data on relationships among militant groups in select conflict zones. Data can be visualized with a custom application. See Robinson, K., Crenshaw, M., Gardin Franco, U. E., & De Castro Sousa, B. (2025). Mapping Militants Project Network Visualization. Rice University.  https://doi.org/10.25613/GP8N-MH95
  • Foreign Foundations: The Nature of State Involvement in Armed Group Formation, 1946-2019: Quantitative dataset that codes the nature and extent of external state involvement in armed group formation for 500+ armed groups established around the world between 1946-2019. Also includes a bibliography of sources and a qualitative summary of each group’s formation and the nature of state involvement.
  • Splintering and Leadership Change in Myanmar, 1939-2019: Quantitative dataset that records instances of splintering and leadership change in 43 armed groups operating in Myanmar between 1939-2019. Includes 150+ pages of qualitative information about how leaders entered office and exited office, as well as why and how groups splintered. Also contains a bibliography of sources for each group.
  • Rebel Leader Purging and Exit in Asia. Quantitative dataset that records when and how rebel leaders exited their leadership positions, as well as if they used any purging in their organizations, for 72 rebel groups in Asia active between 1989-2011.