In this research, I argue that “social control” over the population offers the potential to dramatically change the environment in which all of the actors (the government, rebel groups, and civilians) live, facilitating an end to the civil war, or at least alleviating some of its negative consequences. Ever-growing surveillance and dataveillance practices make this social control possible. When civilians believe that they are being closely watched by their government (and might be punished for real or perceived disobedience), they instinctively refrain from behaviors they believe might incite the government to use violence, which in turn leads states to perpetrate less violence against civilians. For the state, this environment of constant surveillance and the information it yields substantially affect the level of virtual control that can be exerted, thereby reducing the amount of violence the state needs to initiate.

Thw introduction chapter provides context for my subsequent arguments. The next chapter introduces certain concepts important to this research. Chapter Three discusses previous works and explains how they relate to this project. It also addresses how the notion of information has been underemphasized in the research to date. The fourth chapter returns to this under-emphasis and presents a new theory and associated evidence for why state violence against civilians follows a predictable logic that depends upon the level of information possessed by a state. The next three chapters qualitatively and quantitatively test this theory. The final chapter draws some general conclusions and suggests paths for future research.