Seunghoon Chae (University of Leeds)

Work-in-Progress seminars

Violent Civilian Agency during Conflicts: evidence from Korea and beyond

Abstract: The concept of violent civilian agency in wartime remains largely unexplored. Challenging the prevailing view of civilians as passive victims or bystanders of violence, we propose a theory of pre-emptive civilian killings to explain the motive, timing, and location of incidents where civilians proactively turn to violence against each other during conflicts. Our argument suggests that civilian-on-civilian violence primarily occurs in areas where locals have collaborated with occupying military forces. Specifically, collaborators may engage in pre-emptive killings of non-collaborators to prevent whistleblowing but also prevent victims’ revenge, especially as invading forces retreat and rival armed groups advance. We empirically test this theory using geocoded event data from the Korean War (1950–1953), focusing on civilian violence patterns surrounding the North Korean troops’ abrupt retreat, ordered by Kim Il-sung. Our findings reveal a significant increase in pre-emptive civilian killings following the retreat, particularly in regions with high levels of prior collaboration. This study makes three key contributions: it highlights the concept of violent agency among civilians, theorizes the conditions under which such agency emerges, and empirically tests these ideas using novel data. By shedding light on civilian behaviour in war, our work reveals how specific incentives and opportunities can lead civilians to become active perpetrators of violence against one another.