Data and Code: Mobilizing the Masses for Genocide

Do political elites use armed groups to foster civilian participation in genocidal violence? Are armed groups employed strategically? How do they mobilize civilians? I investigate these questions using data from the Rwandan Genocide. To establish causality, I exploit exogenous variation in armed groups’ transport costs induced by weather fluctuations: the shortest distance of each village to the main road interacted with rainfall along the dirt tracks between main road and village. I find: (1) one additional armed-group member resulted in 7.3 more civilian perpetrators, (2) armed-group leaders employed their men strategically, and (3) armed groups invoked civilians’ obedience.