The Journal of Peace Research ("Fratricide in Rebel Movements: A Network Analysis of Syrian Militant Infighting") and the Journal of Conflict Resolution ("Networks of Cooperation: Rebel Alliances in Fragmented Civil Wars") have published articles co-authored by NSA Professor Mohammed Hafez (along with Emily Kalah Gade and Michael Gabbay). In their research, the authors explore hypotheses concerning how differences in power, ideology, and state sponsors between rebel groups impact their propensity to cooperate and clash using data from the Syrian civil war. The authors found strong evidence that ideologically distant groups have a higher propensity for infighting than ideologically proximate ones as well as support for power asymmetry, meaning that pairs of groups of disparate size are at greater risk of infighting than pairs of equal strength. They also find that ideologically similar groups are more likely to cooperate than ideologically distant groups, regardless of power differences between them. 

To read "Fratricide in Rebel Movements" on rebel infighting, click here.

To read "Networks of Cooperation" on rebel cooperation, click here.