Insurgency Success Factors and Rebel Legitimacy

Legitimacy awarded through external actors can create several key avenues that translate into success. First, external actors provide legitimacy through ideological support, applied through propaganda or media campaigns, or advocacy. Ideological support can be applied domestically, in an actor's own political space to shape foreign and domestic opinions of rebel movements in their own political space. Ideological support can also be applied in the 146. This propaganda international arena to influence the action or opinion of foreign actors shaping can provide an ideological basis the state can harness to justify foreign assistance, international advocacy, and military or humanitarian intervention 147. External actor support can also contribute to a rebel group's ability to access international political space, the transnational economic relations, and relations with foreign states and businesses 148. These avenues develop rebel legitimacy by allowing rebel groups access to “legitimate” challenges of resource procurement, economic activity, diplomacy and communication, and receiving support. Access to these avenues bolsters insurgent capacity by increasing the resources and connections available to rebel groups' $149. Access to "legitimate" resources also bolsters perceptions amongst legitimate actors that rebel groups have the potential to become legitimate political actors 150 It is important to note that two forms of external support are available to rebel groups. "Legitimate" external actors act within legal means of international and domestic law, have access to traditional means of diplomatic communication, and actions are dictated by international rules, norms, treaties, and environments. "Illegitimate” external actors, include extremist organizations, radicals, criminals, and warlords. These external actors operate largely outside of the law, maintain financing and resources through illegal activity and criminal networks, and black markets. Assistance from “legitimate" and "illegitimate" actors have vastly implications on legitimacy. For example, al-Qaeda assistance to Chechen rebels reduced 37

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