Sub-National Analysis of Darfur: Examining the Role of Landscape on Conflict Incidence

• Other Authors: Sulik, John (authoraut)
• Format: Others
• Language: English; English
• Published: Florida State University
• Subjects: Geography
• Online Access: http://purl.flvc.org/fsu/fd/FSU_migr_etd-5211

This dissertation presents and evaluates the use of geographic techniques for understanding the role of environmental variables as they relate to the odds of settlements being targeted for attack within a civil conflict. Geospatial technologies are demonstrated for their utility in deriving environmental variables that are entered into statistical models in order to explore relationships between the environmental landscape variables and conflict incidence. The methodologies presented offer novel approaches for the disaggregation of spatial as well as longitudinal variation in statistical relationships when applied to the sub-national analysis of conflict, for which most hypotheses do not account for the timing of when factors will be relevant or for describing geographical variation in the strength of these relationships. This dissertation contributes to research on the sub-national analysis of conflict by demonstrating techniques that foster deeper consideration of how spatial and temporal variation may impact otherwise static theory. === A Dissertation submitted to the Department of Geography in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy. === Fall Semester, 2011. === September 22, 2011. === Conflict, Counterinsurgency, Darfur, GIS, Remote Sensing, Subnational === Includes bibliographical references. === Tingting Zhao, Professor Directing Dissertation; William H. Moore, University Representative; Victor Mesev, Committee Member; James Elsner, Committee Member.