Under what conditions does an ordinary citizen find it justified for an individual to engage in rebellion-related political actions? Though there is a large body of literature on rebel participation phenomenon, little is known about how ordinary citizens react to the motivations of rebels highlighted by the scholars. This research aims to address this gap by focusing on three generic sources of motivation for rebel participation: economic or political grievances, selective incentives, and indiscriminate violence. It is theorized that identification with a rebel candidate’s social group and the gender of this person would both affect individuals’ indicated justification levels for rebellion-related political actions. Through a self-administered survey conducted online by 309 participants from the United States, the theoretical expectations have been examined and while it turns out that the gender of a rebel candidate is not a decisive factor, the explanations based on identification with the rebel candidate’s social group has been partially supported in the study. Further research focusing on other sources of motivation for rebels is encouraged to assess the extent to which the proposed causal mechanism applies beyond the explanations for rebel participation taken in this study.

The case of the National Liberation Army (NLA) in Macedonia, taking up arms against the state in 2001, is a largely underrepresented in the literature. Thus, basing this study on the theory of contingent events and a relational perspective, the purpose of this study is to examine the processes and motives behind individuals joining the National Liberation Army in Macedonia. This was done by conducting semi-structured interviews with former rebels and combatants from Macedonia and analysing the material qualitatively, using the constant comparative method through the lens of the theory. The study of civil wars and rebel participation and mobilisation have long been dominated by quantitative studies and rational choice theory, which is why this study instead is qualitative in nature and based on the personal and individual perspectives of former combatants. I found that the main reasoning behind joining the NLA was to increase the rights for Albanians in Macedonia. Further, rebel participation, as well as the development of the motives behind it, were the result of a process of experiencing discrimination and contingent events. The eruption of violence can be contributed to the relationship and interactions between the Albanians experiencing discrimination and the Macedonian state, having acted as an oppressor. Thus, the results include not only understanding why individuals joined the NLA, but also how.