Abstract
This article provides a critical examination of the current debate concerning theories about the effects of indiscriminate violence. It argues that indiscriminate violence has been treated as an essentially random tactic of counterinsurgency.
An important distinction between its random and intentionally retributive variations has been overlooked, along with the critical issues of its timing and location. This has made it difficult to evaluate the efficacy of indiscriminate violence as means of quelling rebel violence.
Prior research has shown that both random and retributive violence do reduce insurgent activity in targeted locations and in the short term, but they have not been conclusively shown to be effective in the long term and in entire regions. This article uses microlevel ethnographic evidence from Chechen villages gathered during the period from 2001 to 2005 to show that indiscriminate violence, deployed in retribution against village communities, in fact generated insurgent activity in other areas as avengers and rebels from the targeted populations sought to deter further retributive violence against their village communities.
Moreover, insurgent activity occurred no less than nine months after an act of retributive violence. Indiscriminate violence that was randomly inflicted on village communities generated insurgent activity within the same targeted area because the insurgents did not fear retributive violence for their acts.
It occurred with a delay of only six months. A rebellious reaction to indiscriminate violence is not observed immediately.
Where the response is to retributive violence, it does not arise in the same location. This finding has crucial implications for evaluating the efficacy of employing indiscriminate violence as a tactic in counterinsurgency operations.
It underscores the importance of understanding how social and political context can shape the way populations react to different forms of violence.