Assistant Professor Rob Blair’s latest article, "Civil War and Citizens' Demand for the State: An Empirical Test of Hobbesian Theory," was published on June 25, 2019.
“How does violence during civil war shape citizens' demand for state-provided security, especially in places where non-state actors compete with the state for citizens' loyalties?” In new research, Blair draws on Hobbes’s Leviathan to suggest that in post-conflict settings, citizens most affected by violence should lean more toward centralized authorities, especially the state, instead of localized authorities. Using two surveys and a priming experiment in Liberia, Blair tests the Hobbesian Theory and finds that after years of civil war in Liberia, the more severely affected citizens were more likely to demand state-provided security and were more likely to comply with state authorities. He also found that most severely victimized citizens were more fearful of threats to peace today, consistent with Hobbes.