Determinants of violence against civilians
Determinants of violence against civilians  in a civil conflict are factors that may either provide incentives for the use of violence against civilians, or create incentives for restraint. Violence against civilians occurs in many types of civil conflict, and can include any acts in which force is used to harm or damage civilians or civilian targets. It can be lethal or nonlethal. During periods of armed conflict, there are structures, actors, and processes at a number of levels that affect the likelihood of violence against civilians.Violence towards civilians is not “irrational, random, or the result of ancient hatreds between ethnic groups.”: 91  Rather, violence against civilians may be used strategically in a variety of ways, including attempts to increase civilian cooperation and support; increase costs to an opponent by targeting their civilian supporters; and physically separate an opponent from its civilian supporters by removing civilians from an area.Patterns of violence towards civilians can be described at a variety of levels and a number of determinants of violence against civilians have been identified.