Insurgency Success Factors and Rebel Legitimacy
legitimacy, and law arguing that how an insurgency implements and interacts with law portrays a
strong representation of the insurgency's legitimacy. In her book, Compliant Rebels, Hyeran Jo
(2015) also examines why some rebel groups follow international law in conflicts, arguing that
those that comply with international law do so to bolster international and national perceptions of
the insurgency as a legitimate actor. The same studies that evaluated the impact of effective
mobilization of goods, services, and programs on civilian support linked these processes to
improvements in insurgent legitimacy³. Mobilization of goods, services, and programs can be a
strong indicator of an insurgency's ability to function. Processes that entail efficient mobilization
of goods, services, and programs can provide strong evidence of insurgent success in economic
control, political functioning, and procurement of resources³7. The ability to manage these
processes at a federal level indicates control over logistical networks, the national economy, and
political structures³8. Insurgent propaganda and media efforts are another attributing factor to
insurgent legitimacy. Propaganda and media present avenues for recruitment, spreading of
ideology, and presenting voice to supporters, the international community, and sceptics.
Propaganda and media provides the opportunity to communicate widely with populations,
without requiring access to official or traditional platforms of communication³9.
This analysis addresses several key gaps in existing literature on legitimacy in rebellion.
First, literature fails to produce a comprehensive, well-rounded evaluation of factors that produce
legitimacy in rebel groups. While the studies mentioned above address pieces of the rebel
legitimacy puzzle, none address multiple factors in a given study, or place individual factors in
the greater context of rebel legitimacy. This analysis evaluates multiple legitimating factors in a
single context to determine their relationship to other legitimacy factors and allow for an
evaluation of the impact of individual factors in the greater context of rebellion.
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