Nobody More Terrible than the Desperate: Conflict Conditions and Rebel Demand for Foreign Fighters

This article argues that the structural conflict conditions surrounding insurgencies produce rebel demand for external participation. Drawing on a data set of 140 militant organizations between 1998 and 2012, we find robust evidence that violence between insurgent groups is most likely to cause one or more of them to recruit externally. The effect is especially pronounced when regimes also employ punitive "stick" measures against opponents. Rather than a particular ideology being the best predictor of foreign fighters, it is desperate conflict conditions that lead insurgents to invest in the costs and uncertainties of outside assistance.