Natural Resource Exploitation and Military Spending.

This article examines why some states allocate more resources to their military than others, focusing on the impact of rebel groups exploiting natural resources. Using cross-national data from 1990 to 2015, the study finds that governments facing insurgencies in which rebel groups profit significantly from natural resources tend to increase military spending substantially, even after controlling for the presence of civil conflict and other factors. The exploitation of resources by rebels poses a unique threat by providing sustained funding, signaling shifts in power, and undermining government legitimacy through quasi-governmental functions like taxation. These findings suggest that internal threats linked to resource-funded insurgencies influence military budgets and may exacerbate broader security dilemmas, with implications for conflict mitigation and international intervention strategies.