Military Fragmentation, Effectiveness, and Insubordination during Civil Conflict
My research focuses on the empirical investigation of force fragmentation. While fragmentation is commonly associated with counterbalancing, I argue that it may also be directed at a specialisation of the state's security forces. This refinement fundamentally advances our understanding of civil-military relations in general, and topics like counterinsurgency effectiveness and defection in particular. My dissertation project seeks to establish this new conceptual distinction, and to explore its empirical implications quantitatively.