The Political Legacies of Rebel Rule: Evidence from a Natural Experiment in Côte d’Ivoire

How does exposure to rebel rule affect citizens’ political attitudes after armed conflicts end? We combine original survey data from Côte d’Ivoire with a natural experiment based on the arbitrary location of ceasefire boundary estimate effects by Forces Nouvelles (FN) Ivorians’ sense democratic citizenship. Our findings show that individuals in communities ruled FN held more negative about local government institutions 7 years reunification country, weaker commitments civic obligations, and were likely condone extralegal actions. The are larger than extreme lived poverty appear among both coethnics non-coethnics. Using qualitative evidence, we propose three theoretical mechanisms explain why weakened citizen-state relations: disrupted norms compliance state-like authorities, formation self-help leading assessments redeployed state, resentment due unmet expectations economic recovery. study informs debates links between war, citizenship, statebuilding.