University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign

Negotiating justice, rebel behaviors, and war outcomes in the era of accountability

Kim, Myung Jung

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https://hdl.handle.net/2142/129723

Description

Title
Negotiating justice, rebel behaviors, and war outcomes in the era of accountability
Author(s)
Kim, Myung Jung
Issue Date
2025-04-25
Director of Research (if dissertation) or Advisor (if thesis)
Prorok, Alyssa K.
Doctoral Committee Chair(s)
Prorok, Alyssa K.
Committee Member(s)
  • Diehl, Paul F.
  • Dai, Xinyuan
  • Tam, Wendy
  • Ginsburg, Tom
Department of Study
Political Science
Discipline
Political Science
Degree Granting Institution
University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign
Degree Name
Ph.D.
Degree Level
Dissertation
Keyword(s)
  • Civil War
  • International Justice
  • Rebel Behaviors
  • War Outcome
  • Exile
  • Amnesty
  • Civilian Victimization
Abstract
My three-essay dissertation, Negotiating Justice, Rebel Behaviors, and War Outcomes in the Era of Accountability, examines the impact of the rapid expansion of international criminal prosecutions targeting rebels on the dynamics of civil conflict. Prevailing scholarship has predominantly focused on how the international justice regime undermines amnesty, thereby affecting peace negotiations between rebel groups and governments. Nevertheless, this focus has led to a significant oversight: the tendency of rebel groups to seek refuge in foreign territories to evade punishment. My dissertation addresses this gap by examining both the internal and external threats of punishment faced by rebel actors under the shadow of international prosecutions and their combined effect on rebel behaviors and civil war outcomes. It specifically investigates how and under what conditions the International Criminal Court (ICC) and foreign trials via Universal Jurisdiction (UJ) represent threats to rebel groups. To this end, the research tests three expectations concerning the effects of the international justice regime on: (1) the locations where rebels operate and establish safe havens, (2) the patterns of amnesty provisions for war crimes, and (3) the conflict termination and rebel violence against civilians. Each hypothesis is explored in a separate essay, drawing on large-N analyses with two original datasets (1946–2023) covering rebel leader exile and state commitments to UJ.
Graduation Semester
2025-05
Type of Resource
Thesis
Handle URL
https://hdl.handle.net/2142/129723
Copyright and License Information
Copyright 2025 Myung Jung Kim

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