This Article Full Text (PDF) References Alert me when this article is cited Alert me if a correction is posted Citation Map Services Email this article to a friend Similar articles in this journal Alert me to new issues of the journal Add to Saved Citations Download to citation manager Request Permissions Request Reprints Add to My Marked Citations Citing Articles Citing Articles via HighWire Citing Articles via Google Scholar Citing Articles via Scopus Google Scholar Articles by Kalyvas, S. N. Articles by Kocher, M. A. Search for Related Content Social Bookmarking                         What's this?

The Dynamics of Violence in Vietnam: An Analysis of the Hamlet Evaluation System (HES)

Department of Political Science, Yale University, stathis.kalyvas{at}yale.edu

Matthew Adam Kocher

Department of Political Science, Yale University, matthew.kocher{at}yale.edu

The authors analyze a unique data source to study the determinants of violence against civilians in a civil war context. During the Vietnam War, the United States Department of Defense pioneered the use of quantitative analysis for operational purposes. The centerpiece of that effort was the Hamlet Evaluation System (HES), a monthly and quarterly rating of `the status of pacification at the hamlet and village level throughout the Republic of Vietnam'. Consistent with existing theoretical claims, the authors find that homicidal violence against civilians was a function of the level of territorial control exercised by the rival sides: Vietnamese insurgents relied on selective violence primarily where they enjoyed predominant, but not full, control; South Vietnamese government and US forces exercised indiscriminate violence primarily in the most rebel-dominated areas. Violence was less common in the most contested areas. The absence of spatial overlap between insurgent selective and incumbent indiscriminate violence, as well as the relative absence of violence from contested areas, demonstrates both the fundamental divergence between irregular and conventional war and the need for cautious use of violent events as indicators of conflict.

Journal of Peace Research, Vol. 46, No. 3, 335-355 (2009)
DOI: 10.1177/0022343309102656


CiteULike    Complore    Connotea    Del.icio.us    Digg    Reddit    Technorati    Twitter    What's this?

This article has been cited by other articles:

				P. Verwimp, P. Justino, and T. Bruck The Analysis of Conflict: A Micro-Level Perspective Journal of Peace Research, May 1, 2009; 46(3): 307 - 314. [Abstract] [PDF]