| In the post-WWII period, 104 states had to fight armed groups internally |
| 78 (75%) of these states fought groups supported by foreign states |
| 52% of all groups (234 out of 454) received outside foreign state support |
| 62% of all internal conflicts (124 out of 203) had outside state backers on the side of rebels |
* For further factual analysis, see: “States and Non-state Armed Groups (NAGs) in International Relations Theory.”
August 2017 (online). In Oxford Encyclopedia of Empirical International Relations Theory. Ed. William Thompson.
Distribution of Support Types across Rebel Groups and Total Support Years, 1946-2010
| Type of Support | Number of Rebel Groups | Percentage in Total Number of Rebel Groups(%) | Percentage in Total Support Years (% | Training Camps | 61 | 13 | 33 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Safe Haven to Members | 100 | 22 | 59 |
| Safe Haven to Leaders and Operate Offices | 105 | 23 | 55 |
| Financial Aid | 61 | 13 | 40 |
| Weapons and Logistics | 124 | 27 | 44 |
| Training | 69 | 15 | 30 |
| Transport of Weapons and Logistics | 42 | 9 | 25 |
Group Objectives and External State Support
| Total | Externally Supported | Percentage | Percentage | Topple Leadership | 228 | 126 | 0.55 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Change of Regime | 111 | 74 | 0.67 |
| Autonomy | 64 | 40 | 0.63 |
| Secession | 156 | 87 | 0.56 |
| Policy Change | 80 | 47 | 0.59 |
Interstate Rivalry and External State Support
| Distribution of External Support among Rivals 1 | External Support in Type of Rivalry 2 | Ideological | 11% | %42 |
|---|---|---|
| Spatial | 16% | %44 |
| Intervention | 1 % | %57 |
| No rivalry | 72% |
1 The percentage of external support by rivalry type using data from William Thompson & David Dreyer. 2012. Handbook of International Rivalries. Sage Publishing: CQ Press.
2 The percentage of external support per each type of rivalry. What is the share of external support cases among specific type of rivalries?
2 The percentage of external support per each type of rivalry. What is the share of external support cases among specific type of rivalries?
Distribution of Support by Identity (1946-2010), Column Percentages
| Number of Groups | Groups with External State Supporters | Percentage of Groups with Support (row percentage) | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Ethnonational | 198 | 101 | 51% |
| (43.6%) | |||
| Religious-oriented | 67 | 41 | 61% |
| (14.7%) | |||
| Leftist | 89 | 49 | 55% |
| (19.6 %) | |||
| NOID_Democ | 20 | 13 | 65% |
| (4.4%) | |||
| Right-oriented | 64 | 28 | 44% |
| (14.1%) | |||
| Identity\Other | 16 (3.5%) | 5 | 31% |
| Total | 454 | 237 | 52% |
| (100%) |
Distribution of Support by Identity (1946-2010), Column Percentages
| Region | Rebel Groups | Supporters | Support Years Proportion % | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Number | % | Number | % | ||
| Eastern Europe and post-Soviet Union | 31 | 6.81 | 9 | 9.09 | 5.38 |
| Latin America | 48 | 10.55 | 12 | 12.12 | 4.90 |
| Middle East and North Africa | 53 | 11.65 | 16 | 16.16 | 25.93 |
| Sub-Saharan Africa | 163 | 35.82 | 33 | 33.33 | 14.92 |
| Western Europe and North America | 31 | 6.81 | 12 | 12.12 | 23.11 |
| East and South Asia | 126 | 27.69 | 16 | 16.16 | 25.58 |
| Pacific and Caribbean | 3 | 0.66 | 1 | 1.01 | 0.18 |
| Total | 455 | 100.00 | 99 | 100.00 | 100.00 |
| Cold War | 289 | 63.5 | 47 | ||