| |
| author |
Casey Brookes Richardson
| | title |
Professionals or Predators: Patterns of Sexual Violence in Armed Conflict
| | abstract |
War and sexual violence have been connected in the minds of military leaders and the general
public since ancient human history, but are they truly inseparable? The first step to solving a
problem is understanding what drives its existence. There are three primary schools of thought
on the motivations driving predatory conflict actors: feminist, leadership, and
ethnic/revenge-based violence and its history. To further the academic understanding of sexual
violence in armed conflict, the level of military professionalism across three conflict actors:
government actors, pro-government militias, and rebel groups is used as the defining variable
driving the prevalence and intensity of sexual violence in armed conflict. The Sexual Violence in
Armed Conflict dataset catalogs the prevalence of which conflict actor type from 1989 to 2021.
The dataset divides the prevalence of sexual violence into four categories: no incidents, isolated,
numerous, and massive. Each defines a spectrum of reports against each actor type from 0 to
1000+ and separates them by adult or minor victims. This thesis hypothesizes that the higher the
level of professional military training, the less sexual violence the conflict actor will commit.
The results of the data analysis contradict the professionalism hypothesis and show that
professionalism has a limited impact on sexual violence prevalence, as government actors are the
primary perpetrators of sexual violence against adults, especially within military facilities.
However, rebel actors show higher levels of brutality by attacking minors in higher numbers,
especially rebel groups that utilize forced conscription of child soldiers, exposure to illicit
substances, and exposure to HIV. Further research is necessary to distinguish between the
conduct of different types of government actors and the impact that training differences have on
sexual behavior patterns. The differences in the motivating factors behind sexual violence against
children and adults would be an illuminating avenue for additional research, especially
minor-on-minor sexual violence.
| | school |
The College of Liberal Arts, Drew University
| | degree |
B.A. (2024)
|
| advisor |
Carlos Yordan
|
| full text | CRichardson.pdf |
| |
