Financiers of Discord
State sponsorship of rebel groups is a recurring phenomenon of contemporary civil wars. However, these rebellions are often relatively unlikely to succeed, even if they are financed by powerful states. Why do states support rebel causes with such limited chances of success ? This article looks into this paradox by suggesting that states often do not seek to help the rebel enterprise, but to weaken a rival country by provoking a civil war or intensifying an existing one. The analysis with a formal model shows that foreign support to rebel groups can act as a counterforce that prohibits institutional conflict resolution. The historical relationship between Russians and Turkish Kurds is analyzed with these new theoretical insights.