ABSTRACT
This chapter describes the measures for the different types of violations and for the explanatory variables used to evaluate the mechanisms. Central Control is a rough indicator of the state weakness or state capacity and a crude indicator of the state's ability to monitor its agents. General corruption can thus serve as an alternative indicator of the state's ability or capacity to control the behavior of agents. The binary indicator Impunity is coded one if the State Department believes that agents of the state operate with impunity, zero otherwise. Contact between agents and potential victims is established and violations are committed for explicit reasons and in the pursuit of specific goals. Individuals also come into contact with agents of the state when they participate in public gatherings where security forces are deployed to maintain order. Natural disasters thus create opportunities for agents of the state to come into contact with potential victims.
