Rebel Retirement Through Informal Exit Networks: Evidence from India

CASI Seminar
Rumela Sen
Postdoctoral Research Scholar, Department of Political Science, Columbia University
Center for the Advanced Study of India
3600 Market Street, Suite 560 (5th floor)
University of Pennsylvania
Philadelphia, PA 19104

About the Speaker:
Rumela Sen is a Postdoctoral Research Scholar at the Department of Political Science, Columbia University. She is currently working on a manuscript on the process of retirement of rebels through informal exit networks. She received her Ph.D. in political science from Cornell University. 

About the Lecture:
How do rebels quit armed groups and return to the same state they had once sought to overthrow? Much has been written on why men rebel, but we know very little about how rebels quit. Dr. Sen will show that rebels retire through informal exit networks that co-evolve with insurgent and state politics. The argument is based on 18 months of fieldwork in conflict zones in North and South India where the ongoing Maoist insurgency is dubbed "the biggest internal security threat the country ever faced." While retirement of Maoist rebels is exceptionally high in the South, it is very low in the North. Sen argues that neither ruthless policing, nor lucrative surrender and rehabilitation programs offer an adequate explanation of this subnational variation. Retirement is high in the South due to the emergence of the "harmonic exit network" that weaves together multiple stakeholders in an amalgam of roles and alliances that build momentum for exit and manage myriad uncertainties for reintegration. By contrast, retirement is low in the North due to the emergence of a discordant exit network that exacerbates fear and mistrust among key players, deterring retirement significantly.

Listen to podcast (in conversation with Bilal Baloch, CASI Postdoctoral Research Fellow)

The Nand & Jeet Khemka Distinguished Lecture Series is an endowed public program of the Center for the Advanced Study of India (CASI). Launched in the 2007-08 academic year, and made possible through the generous support of the Nand & Jeet Khemka Foundation, the series brings renowned India specialists to the Penn community and serves as a critical forum for analyzing and understanding the complex economic, political, social, and cultural changes that the world’s largest democracy is experiencing, as well as the challenges that lie ahead.
The Saluja Global Fellows Program has been made possible by the generous gift from Vishal Saluja ENG’89 W’89. CASI was excited to launch the program during the 2022–23 academic year, coinciding with the Center’s 30th Anniversary. This new program enables CASI to invite eminent leaders and rising experts on contemporary India preferably from the fields of media, culture, law, and contemporary history to be in residence for one to two weeks at CASI.